We have developed a one phase reaction route to grow hydrophilic metal nanoclusters (NCs) with greatly promising fluorescence properties. The clusters are stabilized with lipoic acid and poly-(ethylene glycol)-modified lipoic acid (LA-PEG) ligands. The growth of the NCs involves the reaction between metal precursors (e.g., HAuCl<sub>4</sub>) and ligands, and it can be carried out either in the presence of photo- or borohydride-reduced ligands. We find that when the reaction is combined with photo-chemically transformed LA-PEG ligands the strategy yields Au nanoclusters with red or blue emission, depending on the exact structure of the ligand used. We also find that when using lipoic acid as ligand, doping a few Au atoms into magic size Ag nanoclusters substantially enhances their fluorescence quantum yield and long term colloidal stability. We detail the growth and characterization of the various nanocluster materials using absorption, fluorescence, TEM and DOSY NMR spectroscopy. We also explore integration of these materials with biology.<br/>

Growth of highly fluorescent gold and silver nanoclusters

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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