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High-sensitivity Detection of Cysteine and Glutathione Using Au Nanoclusters Based on Aggregation-induced Emission

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Abstract

Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) stabilized by glutathione (GSH) have been synthesized using a simple one-pot method, which were used as a fluorescence-enhanced probe for the detection of cysteine (Cys) and GSH. The detection is based on the finding that the weak yellow fluorescence of the AuNCs, with excitation/emission maxima of 430/600 nm, can be enhanced by Cys and GSH via NCs aggregation. This method is selective for Cys and GSH. According to the fluorescence enhancement, the detection ranges of AuNCs for Cys and GSH are 2.49 µM ~ 0.80 mM and 1.99 µM ~ 0.44 mM, with the detection limit of 0.42 µM and 0.27 µM, respectively. In addition, the probe has good anti-interference performance over other common biomolecules. Importantly, the probe is successfully used for the determination of Cys in human serum samples, displaying the potential application of the probe in the detection of biological sulfhydryl molecules in actual samples.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation General Project of CQ in China (CSTC2019JCYJ-msxmX0221), National Natural Key Foundation of China (11532004), Natural Science Foundation Project of CQ in China (CSTC 2018JCYJAX0286), Chongqing Technology Innovation and Application Development Project (CSTC 2019JSCX-msxmX0231), and Postgraduate Science and Technology Innovation Program of Chongqing University of Science and Technology (YKJCX1920205).

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  1. Yuanyuan Zhang and Hedan Xu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chongqing Engineering Laboratory of Nano/Micro Biomedical Detection, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Nano/Micro Composite Materials and Devices, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, No. 12 East road, University town, 401331, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

    Yuanyuan Zhang, Hedan Xu, Yan Chen, Xiaoshuang You, Yunxun Pu, Wenfeng Xu & Xiaoling Liao

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  1. Yuanyuan Zhang
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  2. Hedan Xu
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  3. Yan Chen
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Correspondence to Xiaoling Liao.

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Zhang, Y., Xu, H., Chen, Y. et al. High-sensitivity Detection of Cysteine and Glutathione Using Au Nanoclusters Based on Aggregation-induced Emission. J Fluoresc 30, 1491–1498 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-020-02618-8

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