Glucose oxidase-functionalized fluorescent gold nanoclusters as probes for glucose

Creation and application of noble metal nanoclusters have received continuous attention. By integrating enzyme activity and fluorescence for potential applications, enzyme-capped metal clusters are more desirable. This work demonstrated a glucose oxidase (an enzyme for glucose)-functionalized gold cluster as probe for glucose. Under physiological conditions, such bioconjugate was successfully prepared by an etching reaction, where tetrakis (hydroxylmethyl) phosphonium-protected gold nanoparticle and thioctic acid-modified glucose oxidase were used as precursor and etchant, respectively. These bioconjugates showed unique fluorescence spectra (λem max = 650 nm, λex max = 507 nm) with an acceptable quantum yield (ca. 7%). Moreover, the conjugated glucose oxidase remained active and catalyzed reaction of glucose and dissolved O2 to produce H2O2, which quenched quantitatively the fluorescence of gold clusters and laid a foundation of glucose detection. A linear range of 2.0 × 10−6–140 × 10−6 M and a detection limit of 0.7 × 10−6 M (S/N = 3) were obtained. Also, another horseradish peroxidase/gold cluster bioconjugate was produced by such general synthesis method. Such enzyme/metal cluster bioconjugates represented a promising class of biosensors for biologically important targets in organelles or cells.

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► A glucose oxidase/gold nanocluster conjugates formed by etching chemistry.
► Integration of the bioactivities and fluorescence properties within a single unit.
► These conjugates serve as novel fluorescent probe for glucose.