Synthesis, purification and mass spectrometric characterisation of a fluorescent Au9@BSA nanocluster and its enzymatic digestion by trypsin

Nanoclusters of noble metals like Ag and Au have attracted great attention as they form a missing link between isolated metal atoms and nanoparticles. Their particular properties like luminescence in the visible range and nontoxicity make them attractive for bioimaging and biolabelling purposes, especially with use of proteins as stabilising agents. In this context, this study intends the synthesis of a specific Au nanocluster covered by bovine serum albumin (BSA). It is shown that size-exclusion chromatography is feasible for the purification and isolation of the nanocluster. A mass spectrometric characterisation, preferably by ESI-MS, indicates the presence of an Au-9@BSA nanocluster. Enzymatic digestion of the nanocluster with trypsin results in a significant increase of the fluorescence intensity at 650 and 710 nm, whereas complementary MALDI-MS studies are presented for the identification of generated peptides and show a distinctive pattern in comparison to the pure protein. It can be concluded that Au-9@BSA might be, in future, an interesting candidate for in vitro studies of protease activities.