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DNA dendrimer–templated copper nanoparticles: self-assembly, aggregation-induced emission enhancement and sensing of lead ions

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Abstract

Copper nanomaterials based on DNA scaffold (DNA-Cu NMs) are becoming a novel fluorescent material, but it is still challenging to obtain highly fluorescent DNA-Cu NMs with excellent stability. In this work, we report a kind of copper nano-assemblies (Cu NASs) with aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) property using DNA dendrimers with sticky end as template. The sticky end of the DNA dendrimers induced the formation of much bigger Cu NASs with average size ranging from 131 to 264 nm, depending on the length of the DNA dendrimer sticky end from 6 bases to 27 bases. Compared with complete complementary DNA dendrimer, nearly 6-fold fluorescence enhancement was achieved using DNA dendrimer with 27 bases sticky end. Moreover, the DNA dendrimer-Cu NASs demonstrated excellent stability in serum and could be rapidly quenched by Pb2+ ions. Based on the above property, highly sensitive and selective fluorescent detection of Pb2+ ions was possible with a linear range of 2.0–100 nM and a detection limit of 0.75 nM. Due to the sensitive and rapid response to Pb2+ as well as excellent stability in complex matrix, the proposed fluorescent Cu NASs demonstrated high potential as an excellent fluorescent probe for Pb2+ in complex matrix.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Xiao-Fang Shen of Jiangnan University for his valuable comments and advice in the preparation this paper. The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31871879), the National Key Research and Development Program (2018YFC1604400), and the National Key Research and Development Program (2019YFC1605405).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, People’s Republic of China

    Min Li, Chi-Fang Peng & Zhou-Ping Wang

  2. Inspection and Quarantine Technology Centre, Shenzhen Customs, Shenzhen, 518045, People’s Republic of China

    Yi-Na Cai

  3. School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, People’s Republic of China

    Chi-Fang Peng & Zhou-Ping Wang

  4. National Engineering Research Center for Functional Food, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, People’s Republic of China

    Chi-Fang Peng & Zhou-Ping Wang

  5. School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Xin-Lin Wei

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  1. Min Li
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Li, M., Cai, YN., Peng, CF. et al. DNA dendrimer–templated copper nanoparticles: self-assembly, aggregation-induced emission enhancement and sensing of lead ions. Microchim Acta 188, 346 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-021-04967-y

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