Fluorescence-enhanced detection of sulfide ions through tuning the structure-activity relationship of gold nanoclusters

Kaili Wu; Long Yu; Yifei Sun; Mengyu Yin; Yunfei Lu; Zhaojing Yuan; Wenyuan Jiang; Ru Huang; Xiangxue Wang; Suhua Wang

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2025.125711

Fluorescence-enhanced detection of sulfide ions through tuning the structure-activity relationship of gold nanoclusters

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2025 Jan 6:330:125711. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2025.125711. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kaili Wu¹, Long Yu², Yifei Sun³, Mengyu Yin³, Yunfei Lu², Zhaojing Yuan², Wenyuan Jiang², Ru Huang², Xiangxue Wang³, Suhua Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Hebei Key Lab of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071003, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Green Agricultural Production and Intelligent Equipment, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China.
² Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Green Agricultural Production and Intelligent Equipment, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China.
³ Hebei Key Lab of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071003, China.
⁴ Hebei Key Lab of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071003, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Green Agricultural Production and Intelligent Equipment, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39862787
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2025.125711

Abstract

The concentration of S^2- is a vital environmental indicator for evaluating the quality of source water, surface water, and wastewater, and it has a significant impact on biological systems, particularly human health. Therefore, it is crucial to detect S^2- selectively and sensitively. In this study, we developed a simple and rapid one-pot method to prepare a gold nanocluster (BSA-AuNCs) probe for fluorescence-enhanced detection of S^2- toxemia and analyzed the morphological characteristics of BSA-AuNCs and its complex with S^2- using various characterization techniques. The principle of the sensor is based on the interaction between S^2- and amino acids in the BSA molecular layer coated with gold clusters, regulating the rigid structure changes of gold clusters, and thus affecting the fluorescence properties of gold clusters. Through the specific interaction mechanism between proteins and gold-sulfur ions, this sensor exhibits excellent selectivity. It responds to S^2- in the range of 0 to 30 μM, with a detection limit of 0.395 μM, and shows no response to other heavy metal ions, anions, or amino acids. The sensor is environmentally friendly, simple to operate, has strong practicability, good precision, and recovery rate, and has potential application value in biological and environmental fields.

Keywords: Fluorescence turn-on; Functional protein; Gold nanoclusters; Sulfur ion.