Nucleotide-stabilized cadmium sulfide nanoparticles

Cadmium sulfide nanoparticles stabilized by both natural and unnatural 5′-nucleotide triphosphates were investigated to elucidate the specific chemical functionalities involved in the synthesis of emissive materials. The roles of the nucleobase functionalities in semiconductor nanocrystal synthesis are deconvoluted using photoluminescence spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and agarose gel electrophoresis. Through a survey of all the natural nucleosides, it was discovered that 5′-guanosine triphosphate most effectively stabilizes emissive nanoparticles, while adenosine, inosine, cytidine, uracil and 7-methylguanosine nucleobases do not facilitate successful synthesis of emissive product unless used under basic conditions. The work presented systematically explores and identifies important functionalities within polynucleic acids that can be used to produce aqueous soluble semiconductor nanocrystals.