Ferrocene probe-assisted fluorescence quenching of PEI-carbon dots for NO detection and the logic gates based sensing of NO enabled by trimodal detection

Our research demonstrates the effectiveness of fluorescence quenching between polyethyleneimine functionalised carbon dots (PEI-CDs) and cyclodextrin encapsulated ferrocene for fluorogenic detection of nitric oxide (NO). We confirmed that ferrocene can be used as a NO probe by observing its ability to quench the fluorescence emitted from PEI-CDs, with NO concentrations ranging from 1 × 10-6 M to 5 × 10-4 M. The photoluminescence intensity (PL) of PEI-CDs decreased linearly, with a detection limit of 500 nM. Previous studies have shown that ferrocene is a selective probe for NO detection in biological systems by electrochemical and colorimetric methods. The addition of fluorogenic NO detection using ferrocene as a probe enables the development of a three-way sensor probe for NO. Furthermore, the triple mode NO detection (electrochemical, colorimetric, and fluorogenic) with ferrocene aids in processing sensing data in a controlled manner similar to Boolean logic operations. This work presents key findings on the mechanism of fluorescence quenching between ferrocene hyponitrite intermediate and PEI-CDs, the potential of using ferrocene for triple channel NO detection as a single molecular entity, and the application of logic gates for NO sensing.

Crystal-facet-dependent denitrosylation: modulation of NO release from S-nitrosothiols by Cu2O polymorphs

Nitric oxide (NO), a gaseous small molecule generated by the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) enzymes, plays key roles in signal transduction. The thiol groups present in many proteins and small molecules undergo nitrosylation to form the corresponding S-nitrosothiols. The release of NO from S-nitrosothiols is a key strategy to maintain the NO levels in biological systems. However, the controlled release of NO from the nitrosylated compounds at physiological pH remains a challenge. In this paper, we describe the synthesis and NO releasing ability of Cu2O nanomaterials and provide the first experimental evidence that the nanocrystals having different crystal facets within the same crystal system exhibit different activities toward S-nitrosothiols. We used various imaging techniques and time-dependent spectroscopic measurements to understand the nature of catalytically active species involved in the surface reactions. The denitrosylation reactions by Cu2O can be carried out multiple times without affecting the catalytic activity.

Interaction of gold nanoparticles mediated by captopril and S-nitrosocaptopril: the effect of manganese ions in mild acid medium

We report herein results regarding reactivity and assembly of citrate-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) mediated by captopril (cap) and S-nitrosocaptopril (NOcap), two angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and antihypertensive agents. The results were compared with that of cysteine (Cys), a thiol-containing amino acid found in plasma. The interparticle interactions were characterized by monitoring the evolution of the surface plasmon resonance band using the spectrophotometric method. The original gold nanoparticles were efficiently modified by small amounts of Mn(+2) ions, which are adsorbed onto the surface of 15.4 nm citrate-capped gold nanoparticles, giving rise to manganese-gold nanoparticles (Mn-AuNPs) that, in mild acid medium, have proved to be highly sensitive and a rapid colorimetric detection method for thiols. Depending on the concentration of the Mn(+2) ions the aggregation of AuNPs can be rapidly induced. The kinetics of the assembly process has been studied. Good first-order kinetics has been observed, with the exception of captopril-mediated nanoparticle aggregation at low concentration of either cap or acid. The rate of Cys-mediated assembly of gold nanoparticles in aqueous 10 mM acetic acid is more than 20-times faster than pure AuNPs and concentrations of Cys as low as 34 nM can be detected in less than 40 min under conditions of stable Mn-AuNPs. Similar effects were observed with cap or NOcap. The assembly-disassembly reversibility is shown with cap and NOcap and depends highly on pH.

S-nitrosothiol tethered polymer hexagons: synthesis, characterisation and antibacterial effect

In this work, we portray a new controlled nitric oxide (NO) delivery platform by grafting S-nitrosothiol derived from cysteine into the polymeric backbone of poly(vinyl methyl ether-co-maleic anhydride). Nitrosothiols (RSNO's) are linked to the polymeric backbone through solvent displacement method. By adjusting solvent polarity, materials of different shapes and sizes varying between μm and nm are prepared. More often our method of preparation resulted in hexagonally shaped polymeric materials. The structure and RSNO conjugation analysis was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FT-IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Bactericidal efficacy of nitric oxide releasing polymer hexagons, a novel antibacterial agent is demonstrated against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Confocal microscopic studies revealed the enhanced bactericidal effect of polymer hexagons via membrane destruction. Results suggest that this biocompatible NO releasing RSNO conjugated polymer hexagons could be potentially useful for antimicrobial applications.

Controllable nitric oxide release in the presence of gold nanoparticles

A major problem associated with nitric oxide (NO) donors is the release of the desired amount of NO at a specific site. A number of platforms have been developed for the regulation of NO dosage. We present the use of citrate-stabilized gold nanoparticles as a platform to regulate NO release. Because of the affinity between gold and thiols, the characteristic -S-NO bond of S-nitrosothiols (RSNOs) breaks in the presence of gold nanoparticles, thereby releasing NO and modifying the gold nanoparticle surface with the corresponding thiol. This system allows for surface-controlled NO release, where the amount of NO released is proportional to the number of thiols bound to the gold nanoparticle surface. Moreover, by employing an amperometric technique to detect the maximum NO release, we were able to estimate the stoichiometry of the reaction, that is, the number of adsorbed RSNO molecules per gold nanoparticle. A kinetic model for NO release and its subsequent decomposition is proposed and used to fit the experimental results. The reaction was found to be zeroth- and first-order with respect to RSNO and gold nanoparticles, respectively.