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Synthesis and luminescence monitoring of iridium(III) complex-functionalized gold nanoparticles and their application for determination of gold(III) ions

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Abstract

A new method is presented for the one-step synthesis and real-time monitoring of iridium(III) complex-functionalized AuNPs from the precursor gold(III) chloride (AuCl3). The functionalized AuNPs with an average size of 8 − 20 nm were obtained by the reduction of Au3+ ions by the alkyne group of iridium(III) complexes, which was accompanied by the anchoring iridium(III) complexes on the surface of the nanoparticles. Meanwhile, the luminescence of the iridium(III) complexes was effectively quenched due to distance-dependent fluorescence quenching by AuNPs, thereby enabling luminescence monitoring of the formation process of the functionalized AuNPs and obtaining scattering information and spectral information in real time. Moreover, this method was applied to the determination of Au3+ ions in buffer with a limit of detection of 0.38 μM at 700 nm in luminescence mode, while the detection limit for absorbance was 10.04 μM. Importantly, the multimodal detection strategy alleviates interference from other metal ions. Furthermore, the iridium(III) alkyne complexes were capable of imaging mitochondrial Au3+ ions in living cells. Taken together, this work opens a new avenue for convenient synthesis and monitoring formation of functionalized AuNPs, and also provides a tool for selective determination of Au3+ ions in solution and in cellulo.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi (2021JQ-089, 2021JQ-092), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22101230), Shanghai Sailing Program (21YF1451200), the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing, China (cstc2021jcyj-msxmX0659), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021A1515110840, 2023A1515011871), the Hainan Province Science and Technology Special Fund (ZDYF2021SHFZ250), the Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR, China (File no. 0007/2020/A1), SKL-QRCM(UM)-2020-2022, the University of Macau, China (MYRG2020-00017-ICMS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Xi’an Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Institute of Medical Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, 710072, Shaanxi, China

    Wanhe Wang, Jianhua Liu, Lingtan Kong & Jing Wang

  2. Northwestern Polytechnical University Chongqing Technology Innovation Center, Chongqing, 400000, People’s Republic of China

    Wanhe Wang, Jianhua Liu, Lingtan Kong, Jing Wang & Chung-Hang Leung

  3. Research & Development Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shenzhen, 45 South Gaoxin Road, Shenzhen, 518057, China

    Wanhe Wang, Jianhua Liu, Lingtan Kong & Jing Wang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR, China

    Ling Wang, Dou Niu & Chung-Hang Leung

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  1. Wanhe Wang
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Wang, W., Liu, J., Kong, L. et al. Synthesis and luminescence monitoring of iridium(III) complex-functionalized gold nanoparticles and their application for determination of gold(III) ions. Microchim Acta 190, 171 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-05762-7

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