Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Biometrology and Inspection & Quarantine, College of Life Sciences, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, 310018, China.
Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Sensor and Detecting Technology of Anhui Province, School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, West Anhui University, Lu'an, 237012, Anhui, China.
Anal Bioanal Chem. 2022 Jun;414(14):4235-4244. doi: 10.1007/s00216-022-04076-6. Epub 2022 Apr 21.
Chemical sensing for the sensitive and reliable detection of mercury(II) ions (Hg) is of great importance in environmental protection, food safety, and biomedical applications. Due to the bio-enrichment property of Hg in organisms, it is particularly meaningful to develop an effective tool that can in situ and rapidly monitor the level of Hg in living organisms. In this work, we report ligand functionalized gold-silver bimetallic nanoclusters with bright red fluorescence as intracellular probes for imaging Hg in living cells and zebrafish. The bimetallic nanoclusters of DTT-GSH@Au/AgNCs (DG-Au/AgNCs) with strong fluorescence that benefited from the synergistic effect of Au and Ag atoms were obtained through a one-pot synthesis method, incorporating glutathione (GSH) and dithiothreitol (DTT) as the reducers and functionalized ligands. Attractively, the bright red fluorescence of DG-Au/AgNCs could be rapidly and selectively quenched by Hg within 1 min with a very low detection limit of 1.01 nM. Additionally, DG-Au/AgNCs had a great advantage in the detection of Hg in living cells and zebrafish owing to its notably strong red fluorescence at 665 nm, which could avoid effectively auto-fluorescence interference from the organism. Such easily prepared bimetallic fluorescent nanoclusters would be expected to provide a noninvasive and sensitive approach in the detection of heavy metals in situ for environmental protection.
化学感测对于敏感且可靠地检测汞(II)离子 (Hg) 非常重要，这在环境保护、食品安全和生物医学应用中具有重要意义。由于 Hg 在生物体内的生物富集特性，开发一种能够原位且快速监测生物体内 Hg 水平的有效工具尤为有意义。在这项工作中，我们报告了配体功能化的金-银双金属纳米团簇，具有明亮的红色荧光，可用作活细胞和斑马鱼内 Hg 成像的细胞内探针。通过一锅合成法得到了具有强荧光的 DTT-GSH@Au/AgNCs（DG-Au/AgNCs）双金属纳米团簇，该方法受益于 Au 和 Ag 原子的协同作用，其中包含谷胱甘肽 (GSH) 和二硫苏糖醇 (DTT) 作为还原剂和功能化配体。引人注目的是，DG-Au/AgNCs 的明亮红色荧光可以在 1 分钟内被 Hg 快速且选择性地猝灭，检测限低至 1.01 nM。此外，DG-Au/AgNCs 在活细胞和斑马鱼中检测 Hg 具有很大的优势，因为其在 665nm 处具有很强的红色荧光，可以有效地避免来自生物体的自发荧光干扰。这种易于制备的双金属荧光纳米团簇有望为原位检测环境中的重金属提供一种非侵入性且灵敏的方法。
