Tailoring the NIR-II Photoluminescence of Single Thiolated Au 25 Nanoclusters by Selective Binding to Proteins.

Atomically precise gold nanoclusters are a fascinating class of nanomaterials that exhibit molecule-like properties and have outstanding photoluminescence (PL). Their ultrasmall size, molecular chemistry, and biocompatibility make them extremely appealing for selective biomolecule labeling in investigations of biological mechanisms at the cellular and anatomical levels. In this work, we report a simple route to incorporate a preformed Au 25 nanocluster into a model bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein. A new approach combining small-angle X-ray scattering and molecular modeling provides a clear localization of a single Au 25 within the protein to a cysteine residue on the gold nanocluster surface. Attaching Au 25 to BSA strikingly modifies the PL properties with enhancement and a redshift in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window. This study paves the way to conrol the design of selective sensitive probes in biomolecules through a ligand-based strategy to enable the optical detection of biomolecules in a cellular environment by live imaging.