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Rapid synthesis of fluorescent bovine serum albumin-gold nanoclusters complex for glutathione determination

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Abstract

A facile one-pot method for synthesis of bovine serum albumin (BSA)-gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) has been developed. The formation of BSA-AuNCs took only 30 s under mild conditions. BSA-AuNCs exhibited strong orange-yellow fluorescence, and the excitation and emission peaks were at 370 nm and 564 nm, respectively. In the process of forming BSA-AuNCs, the molecular chain of BSA has not been destroyed. Moreover, there were a large number of Au cations on the surface of BSA-AuNCs, which had strong oxidizing abilities. The reason for the ultrabright fluorescence of BSA-AuNCs was attributed to the Au(0)@Au(I)@Au(III)-ligand structure on the surface of BSA. In order to evaluate the fluorescence performance of BSA-AuNCs, BSA-AuNCs was used as a probe, realizing the sensitive and selective determination of glutathione (GSH) in a wide linear range of 0.01–0.48 μM and a detection limit of 3.3 nM. The proposed method not only offers a brand-new scheme for synthesizing BSA-AuNCs, but also provides a platform for studying the interaction between metal core and proteins.

Graphical abstract

A facile one-pot method to synthesize ultrabright fluorescent BSA-AuNCs in tens of seconds has been introduced by mixing BSA suspension, KSCN, and HAuCl4. The as-prepared BSA-AuNCs showed intensive orange-yellow fluorescence under a UV lamp (365 nm), and BSA still keeps the integral molecular chains during the whole synthesis process. Moreover, the as-prepared BSA-AuNCs have realized the sensitive and selective detection of glutathione (GSH) in a wide linear range of 0.01–0.48 μM and a detection limit of 3.3 nM

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Analytical and Testing Center of Sichuan University for structure and microscopy work and we would be grateful to Tian Yunfei for his help in XPS analysis.

Funding

This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U1833124, 21876117 and U1833202).

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  1. College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, People’s Republic of China

    Ting Wang & Dan Xiao

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  1. Ting Wang
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  2. Dan Xiao
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Correspondence to Dan Xiao.

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Wang, T., Xiao, D. Rapid synthesis of fluorescent bovine serum albumin-gold nanoclusters complex for glutathione determination. Microchim Acta 188, 193 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-021-04844-8

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