Abstract
The development of sensitive and accurate detection of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) and pyrophosphatase activity (PPase) is important as they play vital roles in biological systems. However, it is still not satisfactory for most of the analytical methods for PPi and PPase because of their Cu2+-dependence and poor accuracy. Although the metal ion triggered aggregation-induced emission (AIE) of metal nanoclusters (NCs) offers a new approach to design a Cu2+-free strategy for the accurate determination of PPi and PPase recently, current methods are all focused on utilizing pure metal NCs. Alloy NCs incorporating the advantages of diverse metal usually can achieve improved behaviors in the application, such as enhanced sensitivity and stability. In this work, glutathione stabilized alloy Au/Ag NCs were synthesized via a simple method and used for the fluorescence detection of PPi and PPase based on a Zn2+-regulated AIE strategy. The controlled release of Zn2+ by PPi and PPase could regulate the AIE of Au/Ag NCs and be employed to response PPi concentration and PPase activity. This method processes simple procedure, high sensitivity and stability, and low toxicity. In addition, we also studied the AIE behaviors of this Au/Ag NCs and offer some fundamental understanding of the AIE properties of water-soluble alloy NCs. This study not only provides a straightforward and new approach for PPi and PPase determination but a basis for further study on the AIE properties of alloy NCs and their application.
Highlights
Inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPase) is a kind of acid anhydride hydrolysis enzyme that works on a double phosphate bond
The assynthesized Au/Ag NCs were well-characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis absorption, and fluorescence spectroscopy
The measurement results showed that Au/Ag NCs were mainly containing the elements of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, gold, and silver, which were corresponding to the raw materials for synthesizing Au/Ag NCs (Supplementary Figure 1A)
Summary
Inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPase) is a kind of acid anhydride hydrolysis enzyme that works on a double phosphate bond. Benefiting from the employing of Zn2+ triggered AIE of Au/Ag alloy NCs, this detection method simultaneously processes high sensitivity and stability, low cytotoxicity as well as simple and convenient operation. This detection mode provides satisfactory results in human serum samples. Different concentrations of PPi were added to pretreated human serum samples and incubated with mixed solutions containing Au/Ag NCs (0.3 mg/mL) and Zn2+ (400 μM). Different concentrations of PPase were added to pretreated human serum and incubated with a mixed solution containing 0.3 mg/mL Au/Ag NCs, 400 μM Zn2+, and 400 μM PPi at pH 7.0. After incubating the mixture at 37◦C for 1 h, the fluorescence intensity of Au/Ag NCs was measured
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
