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Updated: May 11, 2026

Synthesis of Near-Infrared Emitting Gold Nanoclusters for Biological Applications
Published on: March 22, 2020
The enhancement of electron-phonon coupling in glutathione-protected Au25 clusters
Yon-Rui Toh1, Pyng Yu, Xiaoming Wen
1Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, China.
Abstract:
Glutathione-protected Au25 clusters (Au25@GSH) are prospective for biological applications due to their biocompatibility and near infrared fluorescence. The weak electron-phonon coupling, however, restricts their applications in bioanalysis and therapeutics. Here we modify the properties of Au25@GSH by changing their ligands. The temperature dependent fluorescence shows that conjugation with different ligands results in modified temperature behavior. In particular, Au25@GSH-MPA evidently exhibits enhanced phonon coupling, therefore, resulting in a decrease in the emission energy and an increase in bandwidth upon increasing temperatures. The enhanced phonon coupling in modified Au25@GSH sheds new light on the future application of nanoclusters from early diagnosis towards therapeutics.
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