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. 2023 Dec 4;62(49):e202312679.
doi: 10.1002/anie.202312679. Epub 2023 Nov 7.

pH-Responsive Near-Infrared Emitting Gold Nanoclusters

Shaochen Zhou  1   2 , Lotta Gustavsson  1   2 , Grégory Beaune  1   2 , Sourov Chandra  1   2 , Jukka Niskanen  3 , Janne Ruokolainen  1 , Jaakko V I Timonen  1   2 , Olli Ikkala  1   2 , Bo Peng  1   2 , Robin H A Ras  1   2
Affiliations

pH-Responsive Near-Infrared Emitting Gold Nanoclusters

Shaochen Zhou et al. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. .

Abstract

Near-infrared (NIR) fluorophores with pH-responsive properties suggest merits in biological analyses. This work establishes a general and effective method to obtain pH-responsive NIR emissive gold nanoclusters by introducing aliphatic tertiary amine (TA) groups into the ligands. Computational study suggests that the pH-responsive NIR emission is associated with electronic structure change upon protonation and deprotonation of TA groups. Photo-induced electron transfer between deprotonated TA groups and the surface Au-S motifs of gold nanoclusters can disrupt the radiative transitions and thereby decrease the photoluminescence intensity in basic environments (pH=7-11). By contrast, protonated TA groups curb the electron transfer and restore the photoluminescence intensity in acidic environments (pH=4-7). The pH-responsive NIR-emitting gold nanoclusters serve as a specific and sensitive probe for the lysosomes in the cells, offering non-invasive emissions without interferences from intracellular autofluorescence.

Keywords: Gold Nanoclusters; Near-Infrared; Photoluminescence; Tertiary Amine; pH-Responsive.

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