Folic acid-functionalized fluorescent gold nanoclusters with polymers as linkers for cancer cell imaging

A novel nano-conjugate containing ultrasmall water-soluble AuNCs protected by ovalbumin as the fluorescent part, folic acid as the targeting ligand and a homopolymer N-acryloxysuccinimide as the linker has been investigated. Moreover, specific staining of HeLa cells by the nano-conjugate has been demonstrated.