Rapid Sonochemical Synthesis of Luminescent and Paramagnetic Copper Nanoclusters for Bimodal Bioimaging

Abstract Herein, luminescent and magnetic copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) are synthesized by a one‐pot sonochemical route using glutathione (GSH) as a reducing and stabilizing agent. The resultant CuNCs show red fluorescence and paramagnetic properties at room temperature. In addition, the as‐prepared GSH‐CuNCs are water‐soluble, exhibit low toxicity, and have multifunctional surface chemistry due to the GSH protective layer. Folic acid (FA) was covalently anchored to the GSH‐CuNCs, and the nanoprobes were used for highly selective, targeted fluorescent imaging (FI) of gastric cancer HeLa cells with laser scanning confocal microscopy. Finally, the as‐prepared GSH‐CuNCs could work as T₁ contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) due to their paramagnetic properties. These findings highlight the fascinating features of luminescent and magnetic CuNCs, which are a promising platform for bimodal MRI/FI of cancer cells.