Herein, we report the formation of a crystalline assembly of gold (Au) nanoclusters for cancer theranostics via active targeting of mitochondria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the target specific activity of an “assembly of gold nanoclusters”. Au₁₄ nanoclusters were stabilized with mercaptopropionic acid and L-tyrosine. The limited solubility of L-tyrosine in methanolic solution led to the formation of a polycrystalline assembly of Au nanoclusters via interactions between ligands (tyrosine) stabilizing the clusters. Further, complexation reaction between zinc ions and ligands stabilizing the Au nanoclusters led to the formation of a single crystalline assembly of gold nanoclusters. Transmission electron microscopic and selected area electron diffraction analyses revealed the formation of faceted crystals with a hexagonal arrangement of Au₁₄ nanoclusters. A theoretical structure of the crystalline complex of Au nanoclusters and zinc ions has been proposed herein based on experimental observations and computational optimization. The crystalline assembly of Au nanoclusters, formed via ligand association as well as complexation reaction, exhibited mitochondria targeted anti-cancer activity – as verified by Mito Tracker staining experiments. However, the MTT assay, FACS analysis and JC-1 staining experiments revealed that the zinc mediated assembly of Au nanoclusters exhibited superior therapeutic action as compared to the methanol driven assembly of the clusters.

中文翻译：

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用于线粒体靶向癌症治疗的金纳米簇的晶体组装†

在本文中，我们报告了通过线粒体的主动靶向，形成了用于癌症治疗学的金（Au）纳米簇的晶体组装体。据我们所知，这是“金纳米簇的组装”目标比活的首次报告。用巯基丙酸和L-酪氨酸稳定Au ₁₄纳米团簇。L-酪氨酸在甲醇溶液中的有限溶解性导致金纳米簇的多晶组装通过配体之间的相互作用（酪氨酸）稳定了簇。此外，锌离子与稳定Au纳米簇的配体之间的络合反应导致金纳米簇的单晶组件的形成。透射电子显微镜和选择区域电子衍射分析揭示了具有Au ₁₄纳米簇的六边形排列的刻面晶体的形成。基于实验观察和计算优化，本文提出了金纳米团簇和锌离子晶体配合物的理论结构。金纳米簇的晶体组装，通过如Mito Tracker染色实验所证实的，配体缔合以及络合反应均表现出针对线粒体的抗癌活性。但是，MTT分析，FACS分析和JC-1染色实验表明，与甲醇驱动的簇簇相比，锌介导的Au纳米簇簇具有更好的治疗作用。