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Publication Abstract from PubMed

In the last 15 years, scientists have used DNA as a scaffold to stabilize small, atomically monodisperse silver nanoclusters. These DNA-templated nanoclusters have attracted a lot of attention due to their intriguing photophysical properties. Here, we describe the crystal structure of a DNA-encapsulated, near-infrared emitting Ag16 nanocluster (DNA-Ag16NC) determined by X-ray analysis. The asymmetric unit of the crystal contains two DNA-Ag16NCs and the crystal packing between DNA-Ag16NCs is promoted by several interactions, such as two silver-mediated base pairs between 3'-terminal adenines, phosphate-Ca2+-phosphate interaction and pi-stacking between two neighboring thymines. The individual Ag16NC is confined by two DNA decamers that take on a horse-shoe-like conformation. The tight wrapping of the two DNA strands around the cluster indicates that the Ag16NC is almost fully shielded from the solvent environment. The reported structural insight will enable to decipher the structure/photophysical property relationship for this class of emitters and open up a myriad of new research opportunities in fluorescence imaging and sensing using noble metal clusters in general.

Crystal structure of a NIR-emitting DNA-stabilized Ag16 nanocluster.,Cerretani C, Kanazawa H, Vosch T, Kondo J Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 Aug 14. doi: 10.1002/anie.201906766. PMID:31411360^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.