Cu²⁺-mediated fluorescence switching of gold nanoclusters for the selective detection of clioquinol

Abstract

It is of great significance to sense clioquinol (CQ) in a simple and fast way because of its potential application in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. In this contribution, we proposed a Cu(2+)-mediated fluorescence switchable strategy to detect CQ by taking bovine serum albumin (BSA) protected gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) as probes. It was found that the strong red fluorescence of BSA-protected AuNCs at 610 nm could be effectively quenched by Cu(2+) (off state) and reversibly recovered by CQ (on state) owing to the specific coordination of CQ and Cu(2+). Under the optimal conditions, there was a good linear relationship between the off-on efficiency (Eoff-on) and the amount of CQ in the range of 1-12 μM (R(2) = 0.9902), with a detection limit of 0.63 μM (3σ). The "turn off-on" mode and the fast and unique complexation of CQ and Cu(2+) endow AuNCs with high specificity for CQ sensing. The proposed strategy is label-free, fast and selective, which is applicable to the analysis of CQ in cream with satisfactory results.