%A Ling-Li Li, Yin-Hua Cui, Jie-Jie Chen, Han-Qing Yu %T Roles of glutathione and L-cysteine in the biomimetic green synthesis of CdSe quantum dots %0 Journal Article %D 2017 %J Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. %J Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering %@ 2095-2201 %R 10.1007/s11783-017-0948-0 %P 7- %V 11 %N 6 %U {https://journal.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-017-0948-0 %8 2017-12-25 %X

CdSe QDs were synthesized with CdCl2, Na2SeO3 and bio-thiols under mild conditions.

Compared with L-cysteine, glutathione was superior for CdSe QDs formation.

Cd2+ binding capacity of glutathione contributed to the CdSe QDs formation.

Biological synthesis of quantum dots (QDs) as an environmental-friendly and facile preparation method has attracted increasing interests. However, it is difficult to distinguish the roles of bio-thiols in QDs synthesis process because of the complex nature in organisms. In this work, the CdSe QDs synthesis conditions in organisms were reconstructed by using a simplified in vitro approach to uncover the roles of two small bio-thiols in the QDs formation. CdSe QDs were synthesized with glutathione (GSH) and L-cysteine (Cys) respectively. Compared with Cys at the same molar concentration, the CdSe QDs synthesized by GSH had a larger and broader particle size distribution with improved optical properties and crystal structure. Furthermore, quantum chemical calculations indicate that the stronger Cd2+ binding capacity of GSH contributed a lot to the CdSe QDs formation despite of the greater capability Cys for selenite reduction. This work clearly demonstrates the different roles of small thiols in the Cd2+ stabilization in the environment and biomimetic QDs synthesis process.