title: Magic Numbers in DNA-Stabilized Fluorescent Silver Clusters Lead to Magic Colors.
abstract: DNA-stabilized silver clusters are remarkable for the selection of fluorescence color by the sequence of the stabilizing DNA oligomer. Yet despite a growing number of applications that exploit this property, no large-scale studies have probed origins of cluster color or whether certain colors occur more frequently than others. Here we employ a set of 684 randomly chosen 10-base oligomers to address these questions. Rather than a flat distribution, we find that specific color bands dominate. Cluster size data indicate that these "magic colors" originate from the existence of magic numbers for DNA-stabilized silver clusters, which differ from those of spheroidal gold clusters stabilized by small-molecule ligands. Elongated cluster structures, enforced by multiple base ligands along the DNA, can account for both magic number sizes and color variation around peak wavelength populations.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara California 93117, United States.
authors.forename: Stacy M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Copp
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara California 93117, United States.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara California 93117, United States.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Swasey
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara California 93117, United States.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pavlovich
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara California 93117, United States.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Debord
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara California 93117, United States.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara California 93117, United States.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara California 93117, United States.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gwinn