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The controllable self-assembly of metal nanoclusters (NCs) has attracted great interest because of the morphological versatility and accompanying luminescence properties, especially aggregation-induced emission. However, there still remains great space to modulate both the morphological and luminescence behaviors in a simple manner. Herein we demonstrate the role of hydrophilic hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) to direct the lateral recombination of dipeptide-protected Au NCs (Ac-CG-Au NCs) 1-D assemblies. HP-β-CD can shorten the distance between single NCs and strengthen intercluster interactions, which may further increase the stability of the NCs assemblies and promote the charge transfer efficiency, contributing to a 2-fold larger PL quantum yield than for Ac-CG-Au NCs. By virtue of the pH-sensitive and morphology-dependent PL emission in an acidic environment, the 1-D NCs assemblies can be applied for the selective labeling of lysosomes, the acidic organelles in HeLa cells, making them a candidate tool for subcellular trafficking observation.
Hydrophilic Cyclodextrin Derivative Directed Lateral Recombination of 1-D Dipeptide Protected Gold Nanoclusters Assembly for Lysosomal Localization
Haiming Gao, Zhaojian Qin, Yihan Wang, Hongjie Xiong, Xuemei Wang, and Hui Jiang (2022) Hydrophilic Cyclodextrin Derivative Directed Lateral Recombination of 1-D Dipeptide Protected Gold Nanoclusters Assembly for Lysosomal Localization. ACS Materials Lett. 4, 2244–2251
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmaterialslett.2c00570