Multifunctional theranostic agents with the features of good biocompatibility, long-term antibacterial efficacy, and rapid bacterial detection are the desired future medicine for infectious diseases, but which poses huge challenges on the design of such multifunctional nanocomposites in a single entity. In this work, Herein, self-assembled nanogels of thiolated silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) and chitosan was for the first time designed and synthesized, which combines the desirable nontoxic biocompatible, targeting specific, luminescent properties. This nanogel displays an amplified luminescence via strong matrix-ligand coordination between thiolate ligands and chitosan matrix to rigidify the molecular structure on the surface of Ag NCs. Concomitantly, this nanogel exhibits exceptional bactericidal activity, with approximately >10-fold stronger activity compared to its counterpart Ag NCs. Furthermore, a bacterial detection system was developed based on the bacterial binding on the fluorescent nanogels. This work provides a new strategy in designing multifunctional theranostic agents and this new composite Ag NC nanogel holds great promise for practical applications as the theranostic nanomedicines.

具有良好的生物相容性，长期的抗菌作用和快速的细菌检测功能的多功能治疗药物是传染病的理想未来药物，但在单一实体中设计这种多功能纳米复合材料提出了巨大的挑战。 在这项工作中 在这里，硫醇化的银纳米团簇（Ag NCs）和壳聚糖的自组装纳米凝胶是 首次 设计和合成，结合了理想的 无毒生物相容性，针对特定的发光特性。该纳米凝胶通过硫醇盐配体与壳聚糖基质之间的强基质-配体配位显示出增强的发光，从而增强了Ag NCs表面的分子结构。同时，这种纳米凝胶表现出优异的杀菌活性，与其对应的Ag NCs相比，活性大约强10倍以上。此外，基于细菌在荧光纳米凝胶上的结合，开发了一种细菌检测系统。这项工作为设计多功能治疗剂提供了新的策略，这种新型复合Ag NC纳米凝胶有望作为治疗剂纳米药物在实际应用中大有前途。