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Preparation of strongly fluorescent water-soluble dithiothreitol modified gold nanoclusters coated with carboxychitosan, and their application to fluorometric determination of the immunosuppressive 6-mercaptopurine

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Abstract

Water-soluble and non-aggregating gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) were obtained by modification of the AuNCs with dithiothreitol (DTT) and then coating them with carboxylated chitosan. This process remarkably enhances the dispersibility of DTT-coated AuNCs in water. The resulting AuNCs, on photoexcitation at 285 nm, display strong red emission with a maximum at 650 nm and a 23% quantum yield. Fluorescence is strongly and selectively suppressed in the presence of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP). Photoluminescence drops linearly in the 0.1–100 μM 6-MP concentration range, and the detection limit of this assay is 0.1 μM. Other features of the modified AuNCs include a decay time of 8.56 μs, a 365 nm Stokes shift, good colloidal stability, ease of chemical modification, and low toxicity. Conceivably, these NCs may find a range of applications in biological imaging and optical sensing.

Highly fluorescent and water-soluble gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) were obtained by modification of the AuNCs with dithiothreitol (DTT) and then coating them with carboxylated chitosan (CC). The resulting CC/DTT-AuNCs were used for sensitive and selective detection of 6-mercaptopurine.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21675024, 21405126), the Program for Innovative Leading Talents in Fujian Province (2016B016), Joint Funds for the Innovation of Science and Technology, Fujian Province (2016Y9056), and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2017 J01575, 2017 J01225).

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  1. Hao-Hua Deng and Kai-Yuan Huang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Higher Educational Key Laboratory for Nano Biomedical Technology of Fujian Province, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350004, China

    Hao-Hua Deng, Kai-Yuan Huang, Qiong-Qiong Zhuang, Quan-Quan Zhuang, Hua-Ping Peng & Wei Chen

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Affiliated Fuzhou Second Hospital of Xiamen University, Fuzhou, 350007, China

    Yin-Huan Liu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Xing-Hua Xia

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  1. Hao-Hua Deng
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Correspondence to Hua-Ping Peng, Yin-Huan Liu or Wei Chen.

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Deng, HH., Huang, KY., Zhuang, QQ. et al. Preparation of strongly fluorescent water-soluble dithiothreitol modified gold nanoclusters coated with carboxychitosan, and their application to fluorometric determination of the immunosuppressive 6-mercaptopurine. Microchim Acta 185, 400 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-2933-0

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