Issue 21, 2020

A turn-on fluorescence strategy for cellular glutathione determination based on the aggregation-induced emission enhancement of self-assembled copper nanoclusters

Abstract

As a class of ideal fluorescent nanomaterials, self-assembled copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) have attracted increasing interest. Unfortunately, most of these CuNCs only possessed bright luminescence in acidic solution, which limited their practical applications in a physiological environment. Retaining the strong fluorescence of these CuNCs in neutral or alkaline solution is still a challenging task. In this strategy, self-assembled CuNCs were prepared by using 4-methylthiophenol as the protecting ligand. The self-assembled CuNCs display stable and bright luminescence with excitation/emission maxima at 330/605 nm even in neutral and alkaline environments. Interestingly, with the addition of glutathione (GSH), the fluorescence intensity of CuNCs is enhanced strongly through the GSH-controlled aggregation-induced emission enhancement of self-assembled CuNCs. The turn-on fluorescence strategy can determine the GSH concentration in the range from 1 to 100 μM with a limit of detection of 300 nM. In addition, the method is employed for the determination of GSH levels in cells. Therefore, the turn-on fluorescence strategy is reliable, sensitive and suitable for the determination of cellular GSH levels.

Graphical abstract: A turn-on fluorescence strategy for cellular glutathione determination based on the aggregation-induced emission enhancement of self-assembled copper nanoclusters

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Jun 2020
Accepted
06 Aug 2020
First published
07 Aug 2020

Analyst, 2020,145, 7009-7017

A turn-on fluorescence strategy for cellular glutathione determination based on the aggregation-induced emission enhancement of self-assembled copper nanoclusters

H. Wang, A. Mao, T. Gan and Y. Liu, Analyst, 2020, 145, 7009 DOI: 10.1039/D0AN01247E

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