Triple-mode sensing platform for acetylcholinesterase activity monitoring and anti-Alzheimer's drug screening based on a highly stable Cu (I) compound.

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and AChE inhibitors play critical roles in the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Herein, a fluorescence/colorimetry/smartphone triple-mode sensing platform was constructed for both AChE activity monitoring and AChE inhibitor screening by exploring a Cu (I) compound, CuI (SR) (R = CHCHNH), as a fluorescent probe. In comparison of most other fluorescent probes, CuI (SR) presented exceptional stability against pH, temperature, UV irradiation, redox agents, and metal ions, as well as good recyclability due to its unique chemical structure.

Guar gum-enhanced emission of gold nanoclusters for α-glucosidase activity detection and anti-diabetic agents screening in plant extracts.

The development of efficient fluorescent methods for α-glucosidase (α-Glu) detection and α-Glu inhibitor screening plays a critical role in the therapy of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Herein, guar gum (GG), a high-abundant and non-toxic natural polymer originated from the seeds of a drought-tolerant plant, Cyamposis tetragonolobus, was found to be able to enhance the fluorescence emission of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) probe. The emission enhancement effect was achieved by using GG at very low concentrations (<1.

Synergistic effect of silver nanoclusters and graphene oxide on visible light-driven oxidase-like activity: Construction of a sustainable nanozyme for total antioxidant capacity detection.

The high cost and low reusability of natural enzymes greatly limit their application in biosensing. In this work, a sustainable nanozyme with light-driven oxidase-like activity was fabricated by integrating protein-capped silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) with graphene oxide (GO) through multiple non-covalent interactions. The prepared AgNCs/GO nanozyme could effectively catalyze the oxidation of various chromogenic substrates by activating dissolved O to reactive oxygen species under visible light irradiation.

Confining copper nanoclusters in three dimensional mesoporous silica particles: Fabrication of an enhanced emission platform for "turn off-on" detection of acid phosphatase activity.

The incorporation of fluorescent nanoprobes into three dimensional (3D) matrixes is capable of enhancing the fluorescence properties of nanoprobes and greatly benefiting sensing application. In this work, N-acetyl-l-cysteine capped-copper nanoclusters (NAC-CuNCs) were incorporated into 3D mesoporous silica particles (M-SiO) through electrostatic assembly. The assembly process takes only 2 min, and the fluorescence emission and quantum yield of NAC-CuNCs were significantly improved owing to the electrostatic confinement effect of M-SiO.