Wavelength-tunable luminescent gold nanoparticles generated by cooperation ligand exchange and their potential application in cellular imaging

This work reports a simple and novel method for the synthesis of wavelength-tunable luminescent gold nanoparticles (NPs) based on a cooperation ligand exchange using 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (11-MUA) and D-penicillamine (DPA). Next, the obtained luminescent gold NPs were used for cellular imaging, and the observations indicated that the wavelength-tunable luminescent gold NPs have potential applications in cellular luminescence labeling and imaging.