Title : Design of ultrasmall metal nanoclusters for disease theranostics
Abstract:
Metal nanoclusters (MNCs) have attracted considerable attention in the fields of catalysis and biomedicine due to their ultrasmall size, unique molecular-like properties, rich surface chemistry, good biocompatibility and stability. This report will introduce the progress in the synthesis and application of MNCs from the following aspects: 1) To address the challenges of size control and unclear growth mechanism of MNCs, a universal synthesis method was designed to regulate the reduction kinetics of the reducing agent, achieving controllable tuning of the size of MNCs and revealing the growth mechanism of MNCs of different sizes. 2) By modifying the surface of metal NCs with different functional molecules, a series of MNC-based theranostic probes were constructed to achieve NIR-II luminescence imaging guided disease treatment. These works may deepen the understanding of MNCs at the atomic level and promote their application in biomedicine.
