Issue 11, 2018

Crystalline assembly of gold nanoclusters for mitochondria targeted cancer theranostics

Abstract

Herein, we report the formation of a crystalline assembly of gold (Au) nanoclusters for cancer theranostics via active targeting of mitochondria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the target specific activity of an “assembly of gold nanoclusters”. Au14 nanoclusters were stabilized with mercaptopropionic acid and L-tyrosine. The limited solubility of L-tyrosine in methanolic solution led to the formation of a polycrystalline assembly of Au nanoclusters via interactions between ligands (tyrosine) stabilizing the clusters. Further, complexation reaction between zinc ions and ligands stabilizing the Au nanoclusters led to the formation of a single crystalline assembly of gold nanoclusters. Transmission electron microscopic and selected area electron diffraction analyses revealed the formation of faceted crystals with a hexagonal arrangement of Au14 nanoclusters. A theoretical structure of the crystalline complex of Au nanoclusters and zinc ions has been proposed herein based on experimental observations and computational optimization. The crystalline assembly of Au nanoclusters, formed via ligand association as well as complexation reaction, exhibited mitochondria targeted anti-cancer activity – as verified by Mito Tracker staining experiments. However, the MTT assay, FACS analysis and JC-1 staining experiments revealed that the zinc mediated assembly of Au nanoclusters exhibited superior therapeutic action as compared to the methanol driven assembly of the clusters.

Graphical abstract: Crystalline assembly of gold nanoclusters for mitochondria targeted cancer theranostics

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 déc. 2017
Accepted
07 févr. 2018
First published
07 févr. 2018

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2018,6, 1650-1657

Crystalline assembly of gold nanoclusters for mitochondria targeted cancer theranostics

S. Basu, U. Goswami, A. Paul and A. Chattopadhyay, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2018, 6, 1650 DOI: 10.1039/C7TB03254D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements