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Few-atom gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have been fabricated and used for various fields owing to their remarkable optical and photophysical features. However, the rational design for the antibody-mediated synthesis of fluorescent AuNCs for direct antigen–antibody reactions remains unexplored. In this work, immunoglobulin G (IgG)-functionalized AuNCs (IgG-AuNCs) were successfully prepared via a facile and fast biomineralization process. The generated IgG-AuNCs can emit intense red fluorescence with a high photoluminescence quantum yield. Besides strong emission, the bioactivity of IgG on the IgG-AuNCs can be retained. Surface plasmon resonance measurements suggested that IgG-AuNCs can bind to goat anti-human IgG with an affinity constant of 6.21 × 10–8M. A simple detection method was then developed using a dot-blot immunoassay with IgG-AuNCs as fluorescent tags. Experimental results confirmed that the IgG-AuNC-based fluorescent reporters had many advantages such as low nonspecific adsorption and good photostability, offering immense potential for the development of efficient biosensors. This work can be extended to other specific antibodies to produce multifunctional AuNCs and utilized to detect and monitor targeted analytes and biological events of interest.

Protein-supported nanoparticles have a great significance in scientific and nanotechnology research because of their “green” process, low cost-in-use, good biocompatibility, and some interesting properties. Ruthenium oxide nanoparticles (RuO2NPs) have been considered to be an important member in nanotechnology research. However, the biosynthetic approach of RuO2NPs is relatively few compared to those of other nanoparticles. To address this challenge, this work presented a new way for RuO2NP synthesis (BSA-RuO2NPs) supported by bovine serum albumin (BSA). BSA-RuO2NPs are confirmed to exert peroxidase-like activity, electrocatalytic activity, in vitro salt resistance (2 M NaCl), and biocompatibility. Results indicate that BSA-RuO2NPs have higher affinity binding for 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine or H2O2than bare RuO2NPs. Moreover, BSA turns out to be a crucial factor in promoting the stability of RuO2NPs. Taking the advantages of these improved properties, we established colorimetric (linear range from 2 to 800 μM, a limit of detection of 1.8 μM) and electrochemical (linear range from 0.4 to 3850 μM, a limit of detection of 0.18 μM) biosensors for monitoring in situ H2O2secretion from living MCF-7 cells. Herein, this work offers a new biosynthesis strategy to obtain BSA-RuO2NPs and sheds light on the sensitive biosensors to monitor the H2O2secreted from living cells for promising applications in the fields of nanotechnology, biology, biosensors, and medicine.

Donor–linker–acceptor (D-L-A)-based photoinduced electron transfer (PET) has been frequently used for the construction of versatile fluorescent chemo/biosensors. However, sophisticated and tedious processes are generally required for the synthesis of these probes, which leads to poor design flexibility. In this work, by exploiting a Schiff base as a linker unit, a covalently bound D-L-A system was established and subsequently utilized for the development of a PET sensor. Cysteamine (Cys) and N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) costabilized gold nanoclusters (Cys/NAC-AuNCs) were synthesized and adopted as an electron acceptor, and pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) was selected as an electron donor. PLP can form a Schiff base (an aldimine) with the primary amino group of Cys/NAC-AuNC through its aldehyde group and thereby suppresses the fluorescence of Cys/NAC-AuNC. The Rehm–Weller formula results and a HOMO–LUMO orbital study revealed that a reductive PET mechanism is responsible for the observed fluorescence quenching. Since the pyridoxal (PL) produced by the acid phosphatase (ACP)-catalyzed cleavage of PLP has a weak interaction with Cys/NAC-AuNC, a novel turn-on fluorescent method for selective detection of ACP was successfully realized. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of the development of a covalently bound D-L-A system for fluorescent PET sensing of enzyme activity based on AuNC nanoprobes using a Schiff base.

A visual assay for the detection of heparinase was developed on the basis of a ternary system of Hg2+–heparin–osmium nanoparticles (OsNPs). First, heparin-capped OsNPs (heparin–OsNPs) were synthesized by a facile reduction method using heparin as the protecting/stabilizing agent. The oxidase-like activity of heparin–OsNPs, however, turned out to be low, which somewhat limits their application. We discovered that Hg2+can significantly/specifically boost the oxidase-like activity of heparin–OsNPs via electrostatic interaction. The oxidase-like activity of heparin–OsNPs toward the oxidation of the substrate, 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine, by dissolved O2was found to increase by 76-fold in the presence of Hg2+. More significantly, heparin in heparin–OsNPs could be specifically hydrolyzed into small fragments in the presence of heparinase, which resulted in the weakening of the oxidase-like activity of Hg2+/heparin–OsNPs. On the basis of these findings, a linear response of the sensor for heparinase was obtained in the range 20–1000 μg/L with a low detection limit (15 μg/L), which is comparable to those of other reported sensors. Further, the colorimetric sensor was employed for the detection of heparinase in human serum samples with satisfactory results. We speculate that combining such surface modification of the osmium nanozyme with a sensing element could be an interesting direction for promoting nanozyme research in medical diagnosis.