title: Synthesis of highly fluorescent gold nanoclusters using egg white proteins.
abstract: Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have gained interest during the recent years because of their low toxicity and finer size for the bioimaging and biolabeling applications in comparison to the semiconductor quantum dot analogues. Diverse materials such as sulfur compounds, peptides, dendrimers, proteins, etc., are exploited for the preparation of AuNCs. Henceforth, highly fluorescent, water-soluble, and few atom-containing gold nanoclusters are created using a rapid, straightforward, and green method. In this regard for the first time chicken egg white (CEW), one of the most unique materials, is utilized in an aqueous solution under basic conditions at physiological temperature for the preparation of AuNCs. Tyrosine and tryptophan amino acid residues are responsible for the conversion of Au ions to Au(0) under alkaline condtions. CEW contains four major proteins of which the main constituent protein, ovalbumin also leads to the formation of the AuNCs with a higher fluorescence emission compared to the CEW. The ratios between the different reaction partners are very crucial, along with temperature and time for the preparation of AuNCs with high photoluminescence emission. The limited vibrational motion of the proteins under alkaline condition and the bulkiness of the proteins help in the formation of AuNCs.
authors: Department of Nanobio Materials and Electronics, World-Class University (WCU) , South Korea.
authors: Dickson
authors: D
authors: Joseph
authors: Department of Nanobio Materials and Electronics, World-Class University (WCU) , South Korea; School of Materials Science and Engineering, South Korea; Department of Medical System Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 500-712, South Korea. Electronic address: keg@gist.ac.kr.
authors: Kurt E
authors: KE
authors: Geckeler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D004527:Egg Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D005612:Freeze Drying; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004527:Egg Proteins; D006046:Gold
keywords: Egg white; Gold; Nanocluster; Ovalbumin; Photoluminescence; Protein