DNA-templated silver clusters (AgC) are fluorescent probes and biosensors whose
electronic spectra can be tuned by their DNA hosts. However, the underlying rules that relate
DNA sequence and structure to DNA-AgC fluorescence and photophysics are largely
empirical. Here, we employ 193 nm activated electron photodetachment (a-EPD) mass
spectrometry as a hybrid MS3 approach to gain structural insight into these nanoscale
chromophores. Two DNA-AgC systems are investigated with a 20 nt single-stranded DNA …

The production, applications and fundamental understanding of clusters has advanced
tremendously over the past several decades. 1, 2 DNA-templated silver clusters (AgC) are
one class of fluorescent biological probes and sensors with diverse applications in cellular
imaging, 3-5 detection of cancer-and other disease-related DNA mutations, 6-11 enzyme
activity sensing, 12 live-cell molecular investigations, 13 in vitro dopamine quantification, 14
single-molecule spectroscopy, 15 and low-abundance detection of microRNA sequences …