One-step synthesis and XPS investigations of chiral NHC-Au(0)/Au(i) nanoparticles

Colorimetric detection of neomycin sulfate in serum based on ultra-small gold nanoparticles with peroxidase-like activity

Neomycin sulfate (NEO) is a kind of aminoglycoside antibiotics. Because of its strong ototoxicity, nephrotoxicity and other side effects, its content in the body should be strictly monitored during use. In this paper, a rapid colorimetric detection method for NEO based on ultrasmall polyvinylpyrrolidone modified gold nanoparticles (PVP/Au NPs) with peroxidase-like activity was developed. Firstly, ultra small PVP/Au NPs with weak peroxidase-like activity were synthetized. When they were mixed with NEO, strong hydrogen bonds were formed between NEO and PVP, resulting in the aggregation of PVP/Au NPs, and the aggregated PVP/Au NPs showed stronger peroxidase-like activity. Therefore, rapid colorimetric detection of NEO was achieved by utilizing the enhanced peroxidase-like activity mechanism caused by the aggregation of ultra small PVP/Au NPs. The naked eye detection limit of this method is 50 nM. Within the range of 1 nM-300 nM, there was a good linear relationship between NEO concentration and the change in absorbance intensity of PVP/Au NPs-H2O2-TMB solution at 652 nm, with the regression curve of y = 0.0045x + 0.0525 (R2 = 0.998), and the detection limit is 1 nM. In addition, this method was successfully applied to the detection of NEO in mouse serum. The recoveries were 104.4 % -107.6 % compared with HPLC assay results, indicating that this method for NEO detection based on PVP/Au NPs has great potential in actual detection of NEO in serum.

Gold Nanoparticles with N-Heterocyclic Carbene/Triphenylamine Surface Ligands: Stable and Electrochromically Active Hybrid Materials for Optoelectronics

Organic-hybrid particle-based materials are increasingly important in (opto)electronics, sensing, and catalysis due to their printability and stretchability as well as their potential for unique synergistic functional effects. However, these functional properties are often limited due to poor electronic coupling between the organic shell and the nanoparticle. N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) belong to the most promising anchors to achieve electronic delocalization across the interface, as they form robust and highly conductive bonds with metals and offer a plethora of functionalization possibilities. Despite the outstanding potential of the conductive NHC-metal bond, synthetic challenges have so far limited its application to the improvement of colloidal stabilities, disregarding the potential of the conductive anchor. Here, NHC anchors are used to modify redox-active gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with conjugated triphenylamines (TPA). The resulting AuNPs exhibit excellent thermal and redox stability benefiting from the robust NHC-gold bond. As electrochromic materials, the hybrid materials show pronounced color changes from red to dark green, a highly stable cycling stability (1000 cycles), and a fast response speed (5.6 s/2.1 s). Furthermore, TPA-NHC@AuNP exhibits an ionization potential of 5.3 eV and a distinct out-of-plane conductivity, making them a promising candidate for application as hole transport layers in optoelectronic devices.

Oxygen Vacancy-Rich Bimetallic Au@Pt Core-Shell Nanosphere-Functionalized Electrospun ZnFe2O4 Nanofibers for Chemiresistive Breath Acetone Detection

Sensitive and selective acetone detection is of great significance in the fields of environmental protection, industrial production, and individual health monitoring from exhaled breath. To achieve this goal, bimetallic Au@Pt core-shell nanospheres (BNSs) functionalized-electrospun ZnFe2O4 nanofibers (ZFO NFs) are prepared in this work. Compared to pure NFs-650 analogue, the ZFO NFs/BNSs-2 sensor exhibits a stronger mean response (3.32 vs 1.84), quicker response/recovery speeds (33 s/28 s vs 54 s/42 s), and lower operating temperature (188 vs 273 °C) toward 0.5 ppm acetone. Note that an experimental detection limit of 30 ppb is achieved, which ranks among the best cases reported thus far. Besides the demonstrated excellent repeatability, humidity-enhanced response, and long-term stability, the selectivity toward acetone is remarkably improved after BNSs functionalization. Through material characterizations and DFT calculations, all these improvements could be attributed to the boosted oxygen vacancies and abundant Schottky junctions between ZFO NFs and BNSs, and the synergistic catalytic effect of BNSs. This work offers an alternative strategy to realize selective subppm acetone under high-humidity conditions catering for the future requirements of noninvasive breath diabetes diagnosis in the field of individual healthcare.

Highly selective colorimetric determination of glutathione based on sandwich-structured nanoenzymes composed of gold nanoparticle-coated molecular imprinted metal-organic frameworks

A sandwich-structured composite nanoenzyme (NH2-MIL-101(Fe)@Au@MIP) was prepared using molecularly imprinted polymers, metal-organic frameworks, and gold nanoparticles and a highly selective glutathione (GSH) colorimetric sensor was constructed. The inner part of the composite nanoenzymes is a metal-organic framework loaded with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), NH2-MIL-101(Fe)@Au, which has superior peroxidase-like activity compared with  NH2-MIL-101(Fe). This is due to the surface plasmon resonance effect of AuNPs. GSH can form strong Au-S bonds with AuNPs, which can significantly reduce the enzymatic activity of NH2-MIL-101(Fe)@Au, thereby changing the absorbance at 450 nm of the sensing system. The degree of change in absorbance is correlated with the concentration of GSH. In the outer part, the molecularly imprinted polymer with oxidized glutathione (GSSG) as a dummy template provided specific pores, which significantly improved the selectivity of the sensing system. The sensor showed good GSH sensing performance in the range 1 ~ 50 μM with a lower limit of detection (LOD) of 0.231 μM and good sensing performance in fetal bovine serum, indicating its high potential for clinical diagnostic applications.

Ultrasmall Self-Cascade AuNP@FeS Nanozyme for H2S-Amplified Ferroptosis Therapy

Recently, nanozymes with peroxidase (POD)-like activity have shown great promise for ferroptosis-based tumor therapy, which are capable of transforming hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (•OH). However, the unsatisfactory therapeutic performance of nanozymes due to insufficient endogenous H2O2 and acidity at tumor sites has always been a conundrum. Herein, an ultrasmall gold (Au) @ ferrous sulfide (FeS) cascade nanozyme (AuNP@FeS) with H2S-releasing ability constructed with an Au nanoparticle (AuNP) and an FeS nanoparticle (FeSNP) is designed to increase the H2O2 level and acidity in tumor cells via the collaboration between cascade reactions of AuNP@FeS and the biological effects of released H2S, achieving enhanced •OH generation as well as effective ferroptosis for tumor therapy. The cascade reaction in tumor cells is activated by the glucose oxidase (GOD)-like activity of AuNP in AuNP@FeS to catalyze intratumoral glucose into H2O2 and gluconic acid; meanwhile, the released H2S from AuNP@FeS reduces H2O2 consumption by inhibiting intracellular catalase (CAT) activity and promotes lactic acid accumulation. The two pathways synergistically boost H2O2 and acidity in tumor cells, thus inducing a cascade to generate abundant •OH by catalyzing H2O2 through the POD-like activity of FeS in AuNP@FeS and ultimately causing amplified ferroptosis. In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that AuNP@FeS presents a superior tumor therapeutic effect compared to that of AuNP or FeS alone. This strategy represents a simple but powerful method to amplify ferroptosis with H2S-releasing cascade nanozymes and will pave a new way for the development of tumor therapy.

N-Heterocyclic Carbene Boranes: Dual Reagents for the Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles

N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have drawn considerable interest in the field of nanomaterials chemistry as highly stabilizing ligands enabling the formation of strong and covalent carbon-metal bonds. Applied to gold nanoparticles synthesis, the most common strategy consists of the reduction of a preformed NHC-AuI complex with a large excess of a reducing agent that makes the particle size difficult to control. In this paper, we report the straightforward synthesis of NHC-coated gold nanoparticles (NHC-AuNPs) by treating a commercially available gold(I) precursor with an easy-to-synthesize NHC-BH3 reagent. The latter acts as both the reducing agent and the source of surface ligands operating under mild conditions. Mechanistic studies including NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry demonstrate that the reduction of gold(I) generates NHC-BH2 Cl as a by-product. This strategy gives efficient control over the nucleation and growth of gold particles by varying the NHC-borane/gold(I) ratio, allowing unparalleled particle size variation over the range of 4.9±0.9 to 10.0±2.7 nm. Our strategy also allows an unprecedented precise and controlled seeded growth of gold nanoparticles. In addition, the as-prepared NHC-AuNPs exhibit narrow size distributions without the need for extensive purification or size-selectivity techniques, and are stable over months.

Gold nanoparticles synthesis and immobilization by atmospheric pressure DBD plasma torch method

Herein, we report the impact of plasma on gold nanoparticles synthesis. We used an atmospheric plasma torch fed with an aerosolized tetrachloroauric(iii) acid trihydrate (HAuCl₄·3H₂O) solution. The investigation showed that using pure ethanol as a solvent for the gold precursor enabled a better dispersion compared to a water-containing solution. We demonstrated here that the deposition parameters are easy to control, presenting the influence of solvent concentration and deposition time. The advantage of our method is that no capping agent was used. We assume that plasma creates a carbon-based matrix around the gold nanoparticles preventing them to agglomerate. The XPS results revealed the impact of using plasma. Metallic gold was detected in the plasma-treated sample, whereas the no-plasma sample revealed only Au(i) and Au(iii) contributions originating from the HAuCl₄ precursor. Detailed HRTEM, EDS mapping, and SAED analyses led to more insights into the structure.

Hyper crosslinked polymer supported NHC stabilized gold nanoparticles with excellent catalytic performance in flow processes

Highly active and selective heterogeneous catalysis driven by metallic nanoparticles relies on a high degree of stabilization of such nanomaterials facilitated by strong surface ligands or deposition on solid supports. In order to tackle these challenges, N-heterocyclic carbene stabilized gold nanoparticles (NHC@AuNPs) emerged as promising heterogeneous catalysts. Despite the high degree of stabilization obtained by NHCs as surface ligands, NHC@AuNPs still need to be loaded on support structures to obtain easily recyclable and reliable heterogeneous catalysts. Therefore, the combination of properties obtained by NHCs and support structures as NHC bearing "functional supports" for the stabilization of AuNPs is desirable. Here, we report the synthesis of hyper-crosslinked polymers containing benzimidazolium as NHC precursors to stabilize AuNPs. Following the successful synthesis of hyper-crosslinked polymers (HCP), a two-step procedure was developed to obtain HCP·NHC@AuNPs. Detailed characterization not only revealed the successful NHC formation but also proved that the NHC functions as a stabilizer to the AuNPs in the porous polymer network. Finally, HCP·NHC@AuNPs were evaluated in the catalytic decomposition of 4-nitrophenol. In batch reactions, a conversion of greater than 99% could be achieved in as little as 90 s. To further evaluate the catalytic capability of HCP·NHC@AuNP, the catalytic decomposition of 4-nitrophenol was also performed in a flow setup. Here the catalyst not only showed excellent catalytic conversion but also exceptional recyclability while maintaining the catalytic performance.

Bottom-up Synthesis of Water-Soluble Gold Nanoparticles Stabilized by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: From Structural Characterization to Applications

N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have become attractive ligands for functionalizing gold nanoparticle surfaces with applications ranging from catalysis to biomedicine. Despite their great potential, NHC stabilized gold colloids (NHC@AuNPs) are still scarcely explored and further efforts should be conducted to improve their design and functionalization. Here, the 'bottom-up' synthesis of two water-soluble gold nanoparticles (AuNP-1 and AuNP-2) stabilized by hydrophilic mono- and bidentate NHC ligands is reported together with their characterization by various spectroscopic and analytical methods. The NPs showed key differences likely to be due to the selected NHC ligand systems. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed small quasi-spherical and faceted NHC@AuNPs of similar particle size (ca. 2.3-2.6 nm) and narrow particle size distribution, but the colloids featured different ratios of Au(I)/Au(0) by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Furthermore, the NHC@AuNPs were supported on titania and fully characterized. The new NPs were studied for their catalytic activity towards the reduction of nitrophenol substrates, the reduction of resazurin and for their photothermal efficiency. Initial results on their application in photothermal therapy (PTT) were obtained in human cancer cells in vitro. The aforementioned reactions represent important model reactions towards wastewater remediation, bioorthogonal transformations and cancer treatment.

Unveiling the detection kinetics and quantitative analysis of colorimetric sensing for sodium salts using surface-modified Au-nanoparticle probes

Rapid, reliable, and sensitive colorimetric detection has been regarded as a highly potential technique for visually monitoring the cation ions. Yet, insight into detection kinetics and quantitative analysis for colorimetric sensing of sodium ions has rarely been revealed. Herein, in-depth kinetic investigations of colorimetric detection using surface-modified Au-nanoparticle (AuNP) probes were performed for interpreting the correlation of salt concentration, reaction duration, and light absorbance. To envision these undisclosed issues, modification of AuNP surfaces with ascorbic acid was found to be highly essential for boosting the detection sensitivity due to adjusting the zeta potential of AuNP colloids towards a slightly positive value. Next, modeling the light absorbance of AuNPs under various aggregation circumstances was employed, which visually elucidated the color change so that it was visible to the naked eye, due to the intense field localization on the edges of aggregated AuNPs. In addition, the involved activation energy of AuNP aggregation was found to follow the first-order Arrhenius formula, with the extracted value of 22.5 kJ mol^-1. Finally, quantitative visualization of colorimetric Na⁺ ion sensing was realized, and the experimental relation was obtained for explicitly determining the unknown concentration of Na⁺ ions in a visual manner.

Metal-Phenolic Network-Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles for Enzyme Immobilization

Metal-phenolic network (MPN) coating is an emerging class of surface functionalization method and has attracted ever-growing interest in areas of bioengineering and biotechnology. Although various applications for MPN coatings, including drug delivery, cytoprotection, and antimicrobial surfaces, have been studied in the form of films and capsules, their interaction with enzyme molecules and the subsequent influence of biocatalytic properties are poorly understood. Herein, MPN coatings composed of different types of metal ions (Cu^II, Fe^III, Zn^II, Mn^II, Au^IV) coordinated with tannic acid (TA) were fabricated on Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles as a facile nanoplatform for immobilizing alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). The results show that the different polarization capacities of metal ions (i.e., Lewis acids) could affect the hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of the coordinated MPN coatings, while the enzyme immobilization rate, biocatalytic activity, and stability are in turn influenced by the surface properties of the MPN coatings. Among the different metal ions, the Fe₃O₄-TA-Zn^II showed the highest enzyme immobilizing efficiency (91.53%) and catalytic activity (60.45 U/mg ADH). Besides, the enzyme re-usability and tolerance to extreme conditions were both enhanced after immobilization. These results highlight an advanced strategy for the interfacial construction of hybrid heterogeneous biocatalytic systems with potential use in biomedical applications.

Development of quaternized polyethylenimine-cellulose fibers for fast recovery of Au(CN)2- in alkaline wastewater: Kinetics, isotherm, and thermodynamic study

The purpose of this study was to fabricate quaternized polyethylenimine-cellulose fibers (QPCFs) for the fast recovery of Au(I) from alkaline e-waste leachate. QPCFs were prepared by quaternizing PEI-modified cellulose fibers using a (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl)trimethylammonium chloride solution. The maximum Au(I) adsorption capacity of QPCFs was estimated to be 109.87 ± 3.67 mg/g at pH 9.5 using the Langmuir model. The values of k₁ and k₂ calculated by the pseudo-first and pseudo-second-order models were 1.79 ± 0.15 min^-1 and 0.045 ± 0.003 g/mg min, respectively. Adsorption equilibrium was reached within 5 min. Thermodynamic studies revealed that the Au(I) adsorption process by the QPCFs was spontaneous (ΔG° < 0) and exothermic (ΔH° < 0). The characterization and adsorption mechanism of QPCFs were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry. Quaternary amine sites were well developed in the QPCFs. Oxidation or reduction of adsorbed Au(I) was not observed. When QPCFs were applied to the solution obtained by bioleaching of e-waste, the recovery efficiencies of Au and Cu were 61.7 ± 3.1% and 11.1 ± 2.9%, respectively, indicating that QPCFs have Au selectivity. Therefore, QPCFs are suitable for actual wastewater applications because of their high adsorption performance and fast adsorption rate.

Fundamentals and applications of N-heterocyclic carbene functionalized gold surfaces and nanoparticles

Improved stability and higher degree of synthetic tunability has allowed N-heterocyclic carbenes to supplant thiols as ligands for gold surface functionalization.  This review article summarizes the basic science and applications of NHCs on gold.

Catalytically Active Gold Nanomaterials Stabilized by N-heterocyclic Carbenes

Solid supported or ligand capped gold nanomaterials (AuNMs) emerged as versatile and recyclable heterogeneous catalysts for a broad variety of conversions in the ongoing catalytic 'gold rush'. Existing at the border of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, AuNMs offer the potential to merge high catalytic activity with significant substrate selectivity. Owing to their strong binding towards the surface atoms of AuMNs, NHCs offer tunable activation of surface atoms while maintaining selectivity and stability of the NM even under challenging conditions. This work summarizes well-defined catalytically active NHC capped AuNMs including spherical nanoparticles and atom-precise nanoclusters as well as the important NHC design choices towards activity and (stereo-)selectivity enhancements.

Imidazolinium N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands for Enhanced Stability on Gold Surfaces

N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have emerged as versatile and robust ligands for noble metal surface modifications due to their ability to form compact, self-assembled monolayers. Despite a growing body of research, previous NHC surface modification schemes have employed just two structural motifs: the benzimidazolium NHC and the imidazolium NHC. However, different NHC moieties, including saturated NHCs, are often more effective in homogenous catalysis chemistry than these aforementioned motifs and may impart numerous advantages to NHC surfaces, such as increased stability and access to chiral groups. This work explores the preparation and stability of NHC-coated gold surfaces using imidazolium and imidazolinium NHC ligands. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy demonstrate the attachment of NHC ligands to the gold surface and show enhanced stability of imidazolinium compared to the traditional imidazolium under harsh acidic conditions.

Synthetically Versatile Nitrogen Acyclic Carbene Stabilized Gold Nanoparticles

N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have received significant attention as gold nanoparticle stabilizers due to their strong binding affinity towards gold. However, their tunability is limited by the difficulty in obtaining nonsymmetric NHCs. In this regard, N-acyclic carbenes (NACs) are attractive alternatives due to their high synthetic versatility, allowing easy tuning of their steric and electronic properties towards specific applications. This work reports the first series of stable and monodisperse NAC-functionalized gold nanoparticles. These particles with sizes ranging 3.8 to 11.6 nm were characterized using NMR, UV/Vis and TEM. The nanoparticles display good stability at elevated temperatures and for extended periods both dried or dispersed in a medium, as well as in the presence of exogenous thiols. Importantly, these NAC-stabilized gold nanoparticles offer a promising and versatile alternative to NHC-stabilized gold nanoparticles.

Antibiotic and mammal IgG based lateral flow assay for simple and sensitive detection of Staphylococcus aureus

Lateral flow assay (LFA), performed with simple devices and short detection time, is popular in field applications. Herein, a novel sandwich type-based LFA was constructed for high sensitivity and selectivity detection of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Vancomycin-immobilized gold nanoparticles (VAN-Au NPs) were utilized as the first identifier to capture S. aureus and the specificity was guaranteed by the second recognition agent of pig immunoglobulin G (IgG). In addition, gold growth was adopted for signal amplification to further improve the detection sensitivity. S. aureus could be directly assayed by this LFA within the concentration range of 1.0 × 10³-1.0 × 10⁸ cfu mL^-1 with a detection limit of 1.0 × 10³ cfu mL^-1. Furthermore, the novel sandwich LFA realized S. aureus detection in food samples with admissible recoveries and established a rapid, simple, cost-effective and sensitive platform, could meet the demand for on-site testing of S. aureus.

An Electron-Rich Cyclic (Alkyl)(Amino)Carbene on Au(111), Ag(111), and Cu(111) Surfaces

The structural properties and binding motif of a strongly σ-electron-donating N-heterocyclic carbene have been investigated on different transition-metal surfaces. The examined cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (CAAC) was found to be mobile on surfaces, and molecular islands with short-range order could be found at high coverage. A combination of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations highlights how CAACs bind to the surface, which is of tremendous importance to gain an understanding of heterogeneous catalysts bearing CAACs as ligands.

Facile Synthesis of Eggshell Membrane-Templated Au/CeO2 3D Nanocomposite Networks for Nonenzymatic Electrochemical Dopamine Sensor

Dopamine acts as a neurotransmitter to regulate a variety of physiological functions of the central nervous system. Thus, the fabrication of electrochemical active nanomaterials for sensitive dopamine detection is extremely important for human health. Herein, we constructed a highly efficient dopamine nonenzymatic biosensor using eggshell membrane (ESM) as a 3D network-like carrier-loaded Au and CeO₂ nanocomposites. This approach has led to the uniform distribution of CeO₂ and Au nanoparticles on the surface of ESM. The structure and properties of the as-prepared ESM templated Au/CeO₂ (ESM-AC) nanocomposites were characterized. The electrochemical properties of non-enzymatic oxidation of dopamine by ESM-AC electrode were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The detection limit of the ESM-AC modified electrode for dopamine is 0.26 μM with a linear range from 0.1 to 10 mM. The ESM-AC-modified electrode performs a higher catalytic activity for dopamine electrocatalytic oxidation than that ESM-templated CeO₂ (ESM-C) electrode, which is mainly due to the unique structure of ESM and more active sites provided from Au. Collectively, this biological waste-ESM provides a cheap and unique template for the preparation of 3D network-like nanostructures and expands the application in electrochemical dopamine detection. ESM-AC nanocomposites prepared from biological waste was successfully modified on the surface of glassy carbon electrode and a dopamine-based electrochemical biosensor was constructed.

Gold nanoparticles stabilized by PEG-tagged imidazolium salts as recyclable catalysts for the synthesis of propargylamines and the cycloisomerization of γ-alkynoic acids

Water-soluble gold nanoparticles prepared in the presence of PEG-tagged tris-imidazolium bromide, containing Au(0) and Au(i) species, are reusable catalysts.

A Flexible Portable Glucose Sensor Based on Hierarchical Arrays of Au@Cu(OH)2 Nanograss

Flexible physiological medical devices have gradually spread to the lives of people, especially the elderly. Here, a flexible integrated sensor based on Au nanoparticle modified copper hydroxide nanograss arrays on flexible carbon fiber cloth (Au@Cu(OH)2/CFC) is fabricated by a facile electrochemical method. The sensor possesses ultrahigh sensitivity of 7.35 mA mM-1 cm-2 in the linear concentration range of 0.10 to 3.30 mM and an ultralow detection limit down to 26.97 nM. The fantastic sensing properties can be ascribed to the collective effect of the superior electrochemical catalytic activity of nanograss arrays with dramatically enhanced electrochemically active surface area as well as mass transfer ability when modified with Au and intimate contact between the active material (Au@Cu(OH)2) and current collector (CFC), concurrently supplying good conductivity for electron/ion transport during glucose biosensing. Furthermore, the device also exhibits excellent anti-interference and stability for glucose detection. Owing to the distinguished performances, the novel sensor shows extreme reliability for practical glucose testing in human serum and juice samples. Significantly, these unique properties and the soft structure of silk fabric can provide a promising structure design for a flexible micro-device and a great potential material candidate of electrochemical glucose sensor.