Luminescence Studies of the Intracellular Distribution of a Dinuclear Gold(I) N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complex

Abstract

Gold lights the way: A bidentate cyclophane N-heterocyclic carbene ligand has been used to synthesize a new dinuclear AuI complex of the formula [Au2L2]2+. The short AuAu distance imposed by the rigid cyclophane ligand leads to a red-shifted luminescence profile that enables the complex to be used as a luminescent probe for distribution studies in single living cancer cells.