Interactions of deprotonated phenylalanine with gold Clusters: Theoretical study with prospects for amino acid detection
Abstract
Nanomaterials are widely used nowadays in industry and medicine. The specific properties of gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) are chemical stability, low cytotoxicity, low photobleaching, high sensitivity to the molecular environment. This set of properties allows to use Au NCs as nanosensors in bioimaging and diagnostics. We have investigated gold cluster complexes with proteinogenic amino acid phenylalanine (Phe). Detection of phenylalanine is essential for diagnostics of phenylketonuria, vitiligo, sclerosis, cancer, tuberculosis, etc. We have studied the complexes of Phe with Aunq clusters with atomic number equal 1-6, 8, 20 and a charge equal 0-2. We have established that the clusters Au40, Au21+ and Au32+ form the most stable complexes with Phe among NCs with charge 0, +1 and + 2, respectively. Intracomplex interactions have been studied using Atoms-In-Molecules (AIM) theory and Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis. It has been shown that metal-ligand intracomplex interactions are partially covalent and partially electrostatic. Also, we have simulated the UV-vis absorption and Raman spectra of the Phe-Au NCs. We have established that the clusters possess prospective features if being used for colorimetric and Raman detection of Phe. Au20 cluster is remarkable for its six-times enhancement of the Raman signal. Moreover, our study provides insights into metal-ligand interactions for clusters synthesized inside a polypeptide globula. Hence, to the best of our knowledge this is a…
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