Engineering Ultrasmall Metal Nanoclusters as Promising Theranostic Agents

Metal nanoclusters (NCs) are ultrasmall nanoparticles with intriguing molecule-like physicochemical properties. In recent years, metal NCs have been used as theranostic agents in biomedicine. In this short review, we correlate the physicochemical properties of metal NCs to their biomedical applications, shedding some light on the design of metal NC-based theranostic agents in cancer therapy, imaging-guided therapy, antimicrobial agents, and bioimaging. Such design principles could be readily realized in atomically precise metal NCs, leveraging recent advances in synthetic chemistry and the structural resolution of metal NCs.