Water-soluble Au-13 clusters protected by binary thiolates: Structural accommodation and the use for chemosensing

Abstract Here we report a successful synthesis of water-soluble 13-atoms gold clusters under the monolayer protection of binary thiolates, glutathione and penicillamine, under a molecular formula of Au 13 (SG) 5 (PA) 7 . This monolayer-protected cluster (MPC) finds decent stability and is demonstrated to possess an icosahedral geometry pertaining to structural accommodation in contrast to a planar bare Au 13 of local minima energy. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis depicts the interaction patterns between gold and the ligands, enlightening to understand the origin of enhanced stability of the Au 13 MPCs. Further, the water-soluble Au 13 MPCs are found to be a decent candidate for chemosensing and bioimaging.