Luminescent nanosystems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9784680-B2
Application number	US-201214123149-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2012
Priority date	Jun 15, 2011
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

The present invention relates to nanosystems comprising metal atomic quantum clusters (AQCs) of at least two different sizes encapsulated in a cavity with an inner diameter less than or equal to 10 nm for the use thereof as luminescent nanosystems, particularly for the use thereof as fluorescent nanosystems; as well as the method for obtaining and detecting them. The invention also relates to the use of said luminescent nanosystems as a fluorescent probe, biomarker or contrasting agent.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A luminescent detection process, comprising disposing a luminescent nanosystem in a potential interaction environment, and luminescently detecting interaction of the luminescent nanosystem in said environment producing detectable luminescence, wherein said process comprises use of a nanosystem comprising metal atomic quantum clusters (AQCs) of at least two different sizes encapsulated in a cavity with an inner diameter less than or equal to 10 nm, as said luminescent nanosystem.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the cavity is the core of a nanosystem selected from the group formed by a nanosome, micelle and reverse micelle.

3. The process according to claim 2 , wherein the cavity is the core of a nanosome, wherein the nanosome comprises ω-hydroxyacids and ω-mercaptoacids.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the metal AQCs of at least two different sizes are characterized by being made up of:
between 2 and 309 metal atoms (M n , 2≦n≦309),
between 2 and 102 metal atoms (M n , 2≦n≦102),
between 2 and 55 metal atoms (M n , 2≦n≦55), or
between 2 and 25 metal atoms (M n , 2≦n≦25).

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the metals of the metal AQCs are transition metals or combinations thereof.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the luminescence is obtained after an excitation of the nanosystem by an external excitation source.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the luminescence is fluorescence.

8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the Stokes shift is greater than approximately 150 nm.

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the luminescence has a decaying time greater than 0.1 μs.

10. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the nanosystems is used as a fluorescent probe, biomarker or contrasting agent.

11. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the cavity is an inner cavity of a nanosome.

12. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the metal AQCs comprise metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Cu, and combinations thereof.

13. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the metal AQCs comprise metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, and combinations thereof.

14. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the Stokes shift is greater than 300 nm.

15. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the luminescence has a decaying time greater than 1 μs.

Assignees

• Lopez Quintela Manuel Arturo
• Univ Santiago Compostela

Inventors

• Lopez Quintela Manuel Arturo

Classifications

• B82Y15/00 Primary

  Nanotechnology for interacting, sensing or actuating, e.g. quantum dots as markers in protein assays or molecular motors · CPC title

• C09K11/58

  containing copper, silver or gold · CPC title

• G01N33/542

  with steric inhibition or signal modification, e.g. fluorescent quenching · CPC title

• G01N33/582

  with fluorescent label · CPC title

• C09K11/025

  non-luminescent particle coatings or suspension media · CPC title