Boosting X-Ray Imaging with a Highly Emissive Steroidal Gold Cluster Featuring Aggregation-Induced Circularly...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• X-ray imaging is crucial for diagnostics and safety, demanding high-performance scintillators for clarity.
• Current scintillators face challenges with crosstalk and contrast enhancement.
• Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials offer a solution by suppressing crosstalk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel chiral gold cluster for high-performance X-ray scintillators.
• To investigate the luminescent properties and imaging capabilities of the new material.
• To establish a new application for chiral gold clusters in advanced imaging.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of a novel hexanuclear chiral gold cluster (Cluster-ETH) with ethisterone frameworks.
• Characterization of the cluster's photophysical properties, including quantum yield and CPL.
• Crystal analysis and theoretical calculations (TD-DFT) to understand structure-property relationships.
• Evaluation of the cluster as an X-ray scintillator with a focus on detection limit.

Main Results:

• The synthesized Cluster-ETH exhibited high quantum yield (84.9%) and strong CPL (g_lum = -5.3 × 10^-3) in the aggregated state.
• Helical packing driven by hydrogen bonding and aurophilic interactions was identified as key to efficient triplet harvesting.
• The cluster demonstrated successful application as a chiral gold cluster scintillator for X-ray imaging with a low detection limit (118 nGy s^-1).

Conclusions:

• Cluster-ETH represents the first chiral gold cluster scintillator for X-ray imaging.
• The material shows significant potential for enhancing image contrast and reducing detection limits.
• This work opens new avenues for chiral gold clusters in advanced imaging and scintillator development.