Biomedical Applications for Gold Nanoclusters: Recent Developments and Future Perspectives

Table 1 Colors, detection targets, and applications of AuNCs with various ligands in this review

Type	Ligand	Color	Target	Application	Ref.
Small molecules	d-Penicillamine	Orange-red	HeLa cell	Imaging	[55]
	Dihydrolipoic acid	Red	HeLa cell	Imaging	[56]
	Chloroauric acid	Green	Chronic myeloid leukemia	Imaging	[57]
	Trypsin	Red	Hela tumor	Imaging	[58]
	Dopaquinone	Green-yellow	Fe³⁺	Detection	[61]
	11-Mercaptoundecanoic acid	Orange	Hg²⁺	Detection	[64]
	Vancomycin	Blue	Fe³⁺	Detection	[66]
	Chitosan	Green	H₂S	Detection	[67]
	Glutathione	Red	Lysine	Detection	[73]
	Cysteine	Red	Hg²⁺	Detection	[75]
	Dithiothreitol	Orange-red	Hg²⁺	Detection	[76]
	Cyclodextrin	Orange-red	Co²⁺	Detection	[77]
	Glutathione	Red	U14 tumor	Therapy	[78]
Polymers	Poly(methacrylic acid)	Red	K562 cell	Imaging	[79]
	Poly(ethylene glycol)	Red	Deep tissue	Imaging	[82]
	Poly(DNH)	Orange	HeLa tumor	Imaging and therapy	[88]
	Poly(ethyleneimine)	Pink	HepG2 cell	Imaging and therapy	[89]
	Poly(N-acryloxysuccinimide)	Red	HeLa cell	Imaging	[90]
	Poly(acrylonitrile)	Red	CN⁻	Detection	[93]
Biomacromolecules	Transferrin	Red	Transferrin receptor	Imaging	[94]
	β-Actin	Orange-red	DNA	Detection	[95]
	Bovine serum albumin	Orange-red	HeLa cell and E. coli	Detection	[96]
	Peptide (GPLGMWSRGLC)	Red	Metalloproteinase-9	Detection	[97]
	Peptide (CCYRRRADDSD)	Violet	CK2 kinase	Detection	[98]
	Chicken egg white proteins	Orange-red	Concanavalin A	Detection	[99]
	Bovine serum albumin	Red	NO₂⁻	Detection	[100]
	Bovine serum albumin	Orange-red	Bovine serum albumin	Detection	[101]
	Chymotrypsin	Red	Chymotrypsin	Detection	[102]
	AS1411 aptamer	Orange-red	CL1–5 tumor	Imaging and therapy	[103]