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Updated: Jan 20, 2026

Synthesis of Near-Infrared Emitting Gold Nanoclusters for Biological Applications
Published on: March 22, 2020
Crystal structure of a NIR-Emitting DNA-Stabilized Ag16 Nanocluster
Cecilia Cerretani1, Hiroki Kanazawa2,3, Tom Vosch1
1Department of Chemistry and NanoScience Center, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract:
DNA has been used as a scaffold to stabilize small, atomically monodisperse silver nanoclusters, which have attracted attention due to their intriguing photophysical properties. Herein, we describe the X-ray crystal structure of a DNA-encapsulated, near-infrared emitting Ag16 nanocluster (DNA-Ag16 NC). The asymmetric unit of the crystal contains two DNA-Ag16 NCs and the crystal packing between the DNA-Ag16 NCs is promoted by several interactions, such as two silver-mediated base pairs between 3'-terminal adenines, two phosphate-Ca2+ -phosphate interactions, and π-stacking between two neighboring thymines. Each Ag16 NC is confined by two DNA decamers that take on a horse-shoe-like conformation and is almost fully shielded from the solvent environment. This structural insight will aid in the determination of the structure/photophysical property relationship for this class of emitters and opens up new research opportunities in fluorescence imaging and sensing using noble-metal clusters.
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