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Updated: Jan 11, 2026
Synthesis of Near-Infrared Emitting Gold Nanoclusters for Biological Applications
Published on: March 22, 2020
Heterometallic ion-regulated full-color gold nanoclusters for multicolor bioimaging and circularly polarized
Yaguang Yin1, Gan Zhao1, Fanfan Yu1
1Joint Research Center for Food Derived Functional Factors and Synthetic Biology of IHM, Anhui Provincial International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Major Metabolic Diseases and Nutritional Interventions, China Light Industry Key Laboratory of Meat Microbial Control and Utilization, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Engineering Research Center of Bio-process, Ministry of Education, Hefei University of Technology Hefei 230601 P. R. China liuhonglin@mail.ustc.edu.cn liuhonglin@hfut.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Achieving tunable full-color emission and high-efficiency circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) from a single type of nanocluster remains a major challenge due to weak dissymmetry factors and aggregation-induced quenching. This study reports a breakthrough synthesis of full-color-emitting gold nanoclusters via heterometallic ion doping. By reducing HAuCl4 with 4-amino-2-mercaptopyrimidine (AMP) in the presence of Cr3+, Mg2+, or Ag+, blue (400 nm), green (495 nm), and red (700 nm) emissive NCs were obtained with respective quantum yields of 13.2%, 2.46%, and 3.34%. Structural analysis confirmed compositions of Au7(AMP)5Cr2, Au6(AMP)4Mg2, and Au6(AMP)3Ag, all <1.1 nm. Density functional theory calculations further reveal that b-NCs, g-NCs and r-NCs regulate emission energy through local coordination, electronic coupling, and structural rigidity of the Au(i)-SR framework. In summary, dopant ions serve as cross-linkers in surface Au(i)-thiolate motifs, with motif length determining emission color. Co-assembly with chiral lipid gelators induced full-color CPL (g lum = 10-2) via structural rigidification within helical nanotubes. The NCs showed low cytotoxicity and enabled multicolor bioimaging. Anti-counterfeiting gels with dual-level encryption were developed using UV-triggered fluorescence and CPL-handedness. The materials remained stable over one month. This work establishes a metal-ion-directed strategy for emission tuning in Au NCs, linking structures to photophysical properties and offering a flexible platform for chiral optoelectronics.
