Layer-By-Layer Designed Spark-Type AuCuPt Alloy with Robust Broadband Absorption to Enhance Sensitivity in Flexible Detection of Estriol by a Lateral Flow Immunoassay

Excessive intake of estrogen poses significant health risks to the human body; hence, there is a necessity to develop rapid detection methods to monitor its levels of addition. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), commonly utilized as colorimetric signal labels, find extensive application in lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA). However, the detection sensitivity of traditional AuNPs-LFIA is typically constrained by low molar extinction coefficients and reliance on a single signal. Herein, in this work, unique spark-type AuCuPt nanoflowers modified with tannic acid (AuCuPt@TA) were precisely designed by reasonable layer-by-layer element composition and green modification. The obtained AuCuPt displays robust broadband absorption spanning the visible to near-infrared spectrum, showcasing a notable molar extinction coefficient of 2.38 × 1012 M-1 cm-1 and a photothermal conversion efficiency of 48.5%. Based on this, selecting estriol (E3) as a model analyte, colorimetric/photothermal dual-signal LFIA (CLFIA and PLFIA) was developed. Limits of detection (LOD) of the CLFIA and PLFIA were achieved at 0.033 ng mL-1 and 0.021 ng mL-1, respectively, which represent a 9.3- and 14.6-fold improvement compared to the visual LOD of AuNPs-LFIA. Moreover, the application feasibility of the immunoassay was further evaluated in the milk and pork with satisfactory recoveries ranging from 86.21% to 117.91%. Thus, this work has enhanced the performance of LFIA for E3 detection and exhibited enormous potential for other sensing platform construction.

Design, synthesis, antimicrobial, antibiofilm evaluation and Z/E-isomerization of novel 6-((arylamino)methylene)benzo[a] phenazin-5(6H)-ones induced by organic solvent

New 6-((arylamino)methylene)benzo[a]phenazin-5(6H)-one derivatives were synthesized, and good-to-high yields were achieved through one-pot, four-component condensation of 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, 1,2-phenylenediamine, aromatic amines and triethyl orthoformate using formic acid as catalyst under solvent-free conditions at 90 °C. The structure of these new compounds was confirmed using FT-IR and 1H-NMR as well as MS spectroscopy. Investigation of spectroscopy data indicated that the synthesized compounds exist in the keto-enamine tautomeric form and undergo Z/E-isomerization around the C[double bond, length as m-dash]C bond in DMSO-d6 at room temperature. Furthermore, intramolecular hydrogen bond has been observed in the synthesized E- and Z-ketoenamines. The noticeable features of the present procedure availability of starting materials, very simple operation, easy work-up, short reaction times, good to high yields and no need for column chromatography separation of benzophenazine enamines. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated in vitro for their antibacterial, antifungal and antibiofilm activities against some of the tested microorganisms. The results demonstrated that compound 6b showed the maximum antibacterial activity, 6d exhibited the maximum antifungal activity and 6b had the most efficiency to inhibit biofilm formation of Bacillus subtilis (80%) at 200 μg mL-1 concentration.

Shape tunability of copper nanocrystals deposited on nanorods

The significant role of metal particle geometry in dictating catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability is well established in heterocatalysis. However, this topic is rarely explored in semiconductor-metal hybrid photocatalytic systems, primarily due to the lack of synthetic control over this feature. Herein, we present a new synthetic route for the deposition of metallic Cu nanoparticles with spherical, elliptic, or cubic geometrical shapes, which are selectively grown on one side of the well-established CdSe@CdS nanorod photocatalytic system. An additional multipod morphology in which several nanorod branches are combined on a single Cu domain is presented as well. Cu is an earth-abundant low-cost catalyst known to promote a diverse gallery of organic transformations and is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor with interesting plasmonic properties. Its deposition on cadmium chalcogenide nanostructures is enabled here via mitigation of the reaction kinetics such that the cation exchange reaction is prevented. The structural diversity of these sophisticated nanoscale hybrid systems lays the foundations for shape-activity correlation studies and employment in various applications.

Electrochemical Synthesis of Nanocrystalline CuAg Coatings on Stainless Steel from Cyanide-Free Electrolyte

Herein we demonstrate a novel plating bath, free from cyanide, to plate a highly adherent nanocrystalline copper-silver (ncCuAg) coating on a stainless-steel substrate and its application as an antimicrobial coating. The microstructures, such as the grain size, texture, microstrain, and the crystalline preferential orientation of CuAg deposits, are systematically investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis. The range of 13.4–16.6 nm was discovered to be the crystallite size determined from the X-ray peak broadening (Scherrer’s formula). Both HRTEM, FESEM-EDS, XPS, and mapping analysis revealed that the ncCuAg coatings are composed of both Ag and Cu atoms. Electrochemical processes occurring during CuAg co-deposition were investigated by using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and anodic linear stripping voltammetry (ALSV). Additionally, the coatings made of ncCuAg produced by these baths work well as antibacterial agents against gram-positive (Staphylococcus) and gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli).

Antibacterial Properties of Ag-Cu Alloy Nanoparticles Against Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Through Inhibition of Quorum Sensing Pathway and Virulence-Related Genes

Objective: To evaluate the application of Ag-Cu NPs as quorum sensing (QS) inhibitors and attenuate virulence expression to overcome the global crisis of multidrug-resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa. Methods: Ag-Cu NPs were synthesized by co-reduction of silver-nitrate and copper-nitrate (Ag:Cu = 1:1 0.75 μM). In this cross-sectional study, a total of eighty clinical strains of P. aeruginosa were collected from patients with burns. The antibacterial and resistance pattern of the clinical isolated was determined using the microdilution and Kirby Bauer disk methods. The effect of sub-MIC of Ag-Cu NPs on the expression of lasI, exoS and toxA in five clinical isolates of imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa was performed using qRT-PCR. Results: The characterization methods confirm the formation of the Ag-Cu alloy NPs with agglomerated spherical morphology and particle sizes of about 30-40 nm. We observed that the MIC and MBC of Ag-Cu alloy NPs against MDR P. aeruginosa was found to be 2.5 and 5 μg ml^-1, respectively. The effects of a sub-inhibitory concentration of Ag-Cu NPs on MDR P. aeruginosa QS and virulence-related genes showed that the expression level of QS regulatory and virulence genes significantly decreased in both MDR P. aeruginosa and reference strain under Ag-Cu sub-MIC treatment. Conclusion: Ag-Cu NPs could be potentially used as a promising QS inhibitor and anti-virulence compound against P. aeruginosa.

Development of Multi-concentration Cu:Ag Bimetallic Nanoparticles as a Promising Bactericidal for Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria as Evaluated with Molecular Docking Study

The present study is concerned with evaluating the influence of various concentrations of Ag within Cu:Ag bimetallic nanoparticles developed for use as a promising anti-bacterial agent against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Here, Cu:Ag bimetallic nanoparticles with various concentration ratios (2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10 wt%) of Ag in fixed amount of Cu labeled as 1:0.025, 1:0.050, 1:0.075, and 1:0.1 were synthesized using co-precipitation method with ammonium hydroxide and deionized water as solvent, polyvinyl pyrrolidone as a capping agent, and sodium borohydride and ascorbic acid as reducing agents. These formulated products were characterized through a variety of techniques. XRD confirmed phase purity and detected the presence of distinct fcc structures belonging to Cu and Ag phases. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the presence of vibrational modes corresponding to various functional groups and recorded characteristic peak emanating from the bimetallic. UV-visible spectroscopy revealed reduction in band gap with increasing Ag content. SEM and HR-TEM micrographs revealed spherical morphology of Ag-doped Cu bimetallic with small and large scale agglomerations. The samples exhibited varying dimensions and interlayer spacing. Bactericidal action of synthesized Cu:Ag bimetallic NPs depicted statistically significant (P < 0.05) inhibition zones recorded for various concentrations of Ag dopant against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) ranging from (0.85-2.8 mm), (0.55-1.95 mm) and (0.65-1.85 mm), respectively. Broadly, Cu:Ag bimetallic NPs were found to be more potent against gram-positive compared with gram-negative. Molecular docking study of Ag-Cu bimetallic NPs was performed against β-lactamase which is a key enzyme of cell wall biosynthetic pathway from both S. aureus (Binding score: - 4.981 kcal/mol) and A. bauminnii (Binding score: - 4.013 kcal/mol). Similarly, binding interaction analysis against FabI belonging to fatty acid biosynthetic pathway from A. bauminnii (Binding score: - 3.385 kcal/mol) and S. aureus (Binding score: - 3.012 kcal/mol) along with FabH from E. coli (Binding score: - 4.372 kcal/mol) was undertaken. These theoretical computations indicate Cu-Ag bimetallic NPs as possible inhibitor of selected enzymes. It is suggested that exploring in vitro inhibition potential of these materials may open new avenues for antibiotic discovery.

Synthesis of Polysubstituted Pyrroles through Electro-Oxidative Annulation of 1,3-Dicarbonyl Compounds and Primary Amines

Reported herein is a synthetic method of polysubstituted pyrroles from easily available materials, 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and primary amines, via electro-oxidative intermolecular annulation. Under similar conditions, enamines are also converted smoothly into desired products, indicating that in situ formed enamines are crucial intermediates for the first transformation. Neither transition-metal salts nor harsh conditions are required to facilitate the dehydrocyclization process.

Dinuclear cobalt complexes supported by biphenol and binaphthol-derived bis(salicylaldimine) ligands: synthesis, characterization and catalytic application in β-enaminone synthesis from 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and aliphatic amines

Biaryl scaffolding ligands form dicobalt clusters, which serve as efficient catalysts in enaminone synthesis under ambient conditions.

Investigation on the morphological and optical evolution of bimetallic Pd-Ag nanoparticles on sapphire (0001) by the systematic control of composition, annealing temperature and time

Multi-metallic alloy nanoparticles (NPs) can offer additional opportunities for modifying the electronic, optical and catalytic properties by the control of composition, configuration and size of individual nanostructures that are consisted of more than single element. In this paper, the fabrication of bimetallic Pd-Ag NPs is systematically demonstrated via the solid state dewetting of bilayer thin films on c-plane sapphire by governing the temperature, time as well as composition. The composition of Pd-Ag bilayer remarkably affects the morphology of alloy nanostructures, in which the higher Ag composition, i.e. Pd_0.25Ag_0.75, leads to the enhanced dewetting of bilayers whereas the higher Pd composition (Pd_0.75Ag_0.25) hinders the dewetting. Depending on the annealing temperature, Pd-Ag alloy nanostructures evolve with a series of configurations, i.e. nucleation of voids, porous network, elongated nanoclusters and round alloy NPs. In addition, with the annealing time set, the gradual configuration transformation from the elongated to round alloy NPs as well as size reduction is demonstrated due to the enhanced diffusion and sublimation of Ag atoms. The evolution of various morphology of Pd-Ag nanostructures is described based on the surface diffusion and inter-diffusion of Pd and Ag adatoms along with the Ag sublimation, Rayleigh instability and energy minimization mechanism. The reflectance spectra of bimetallic Pd-Ag nanostructures exhibit various quadrupolar and dipolar resonance peaks, peak shifts and absorption dips owing to the surface plasmon resonance of nanostructures depending on the surface morphology. The intensity of reflectance spectra is gradually decreased along with the surface coverage and NP size evolution. The absorption dips are red-shifted towards the longer wavelength for the larger alloy NPs and vice-versa.

Phase formation and stability of Ag–60 at%Cu alloy nanoparticles synthesized by chemical routes in aqueous media

The present work reports the nature of the evolution of an array of nanoparticles during the synthesis of alloy nanoparticles of Ag–60 at%Cu by the co-reduction of metal salt precursors using NaBH₄ in an aqueous medium.