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A ratiometric luminescence probe for selective detection of Ag+ based on thiolactic acid–capped gold nanoclusters with near-infrared emission and employing bovine serum albumin as a signal amplifier

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Abstract

When thiolactic acid–capped gold nanoclusters (AuNCs@TLA) with strong near-infrared (NIR, 800 nm) emission were applied to detect metal ions, only Ag+ induced the generation of two new emission peaks at 610 and 670 nm in sequence and quenching the original NIR emission. The new peak at 670 nm generated after the 800-nm emission disappeared utterly. The ratiometric and turn-on responses showed different linear concentration ranges (0.10–4.0 μmol·L−1 and 10–50 μmol·L−1) toward Ag+, and the limit of detection (LOD) was 40 nmol·L−1. Especially, the probe exhibited extremely high selectivity and strong anti-interference from other metal ions. Mechanism studies showed that the novel responses were attributed to the anti-galvanic reaction of AuNCs to Ag+ and formation of bimetallic nanoclusters. The two new emission peaks were due to the composition change and size growth of the metal core. Besides, bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been employed as a signal amplifier based on the assembly-induced emission enhancement properties of AuNCs, which improved the LOD to 10 nmol·L−1. Moreover, the ratiometric method is feasible for Ag+ detection in diluted serum with high recovery rates, showing large application potential in the biological system. The present study supplies a novel ratiometric probe for Ag+ with a two-stage response and provides a novel signal amplifier of BSA, which will facilitate and promote the application of NIR-emitted metal nanoclusters in biological system.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Funding

This study received financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21875085) and the Jilin Provincial Science and Technology Development Plan Project (No. 20230204040YY).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, No. 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Qi-Yu Liang, Hong-Wei Li & Yuqing Wu

  2. Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, No. 2 Liutiao Road, Changchun, 130023, People’s Republic of China

    Qi-Yu Liang, Hong-Wei Li & Yuqing Wu

  3. Department of Hepatic-Biliary-Pancreatic Medicine, First Hospital, Jilin University, No. 71 Xinmin Street, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

    Chong Wang

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  1. Qi-Yu Liang
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Contributions

Qi-Yu Liang: data curation, investigation, software, methodology. Chong Wang: methodology, validation. Hong-Wei Li: data curation, supervision, writing—review and editing. Yuqing Wu: methodology, supervision, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing. All authors have approved and read the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hong-Wei Li or Yuqing Wu.

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Liang, QY., Wang, C., Li, HW. et al. A ratiometric luminescence probe for selective detection of Ag+ based on thiolactic acid–capped gold nanoclusters with near-infrared emission and employing bovine serum albumin as a signal amplifier. Microchim Acta 190, 374 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-05955-0

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