Oligonucleotide stabilized silver nanoclusters as fluorescence probe for drug-DNA interaction investigation.

In this work, oligonucleotide stabilized silver nanoclusters as novel fluorescent probes were successfully utilized for the drug-DNA interaction study. Silver nanoclusters were proved to be sensitive probes for the drugs investigated (including of two kinds of intercalators, daunorubicin and quinacrine, as well as a non-intercalating binder bisBenzimide H 33258), as the detection limits at 10(-8) mol L(-1) level of studied drugs can be achieved. The interactions of drugs and calf thymus DNA were investigated using non-linear fit analysis, and the binding constants as well as binding site sizes were obtained. As biocompatible materials, silver nanoclusters are promising in the chemical especially biochemical analysis fields.