A review of spectroscopic probes constructed from aptamer-binding gold/silver nanoparticles or their dimers in environmental pollutants' detection.

The issue of environmental pollutant residues has gained wide public attention all along. Therefore, it is necessary to develop simple, rapid, economical, portable, and sensitive detection techniques, which have become the focus of research in the pollutants detection field. Spectroscopy is one of the most convenient, simple, rapid, and intuitive analytical tools that can provide accurate information, such as ultraviolet spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, plasmon resonance spectroscopy, etc. Gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, and their dimers with unique optical properties are commonly used in the construction of spectroscopic probes. As a class of oligonucleotides that can recognize specific target molecules, aptamers also have a strong ability to recognize small-molecule pollutants. The application of aptamer-binding metal nanoparticles in biosensing detection presents significant advantages for instance high sensitivity, good selectivity, and rapid analysis. And many spectroscopic probes constructed by aptamer-binding gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, or their dimers have been successfully demonstrated for detecting pollutants. This review summarizes the progress, advantages, and disadvantages of aptamer sensing techniques constructed by visual colorimetric, fluorescence, Raman, and plasmon resonance spectroscopic probes combining gold/silver nanoparticles or their dimers in the field of pollutants detection, and discusses the prospects and challenges for their future.

Non-enzymatic colorimetric glucose detection based on Au/Ag nanoparticles using smartphone and machine learning.

Conventional enzyme-based glucose quantification approaches are not feasible due to their high cost, specific working temperatures, short shelf life, and poor stability. Therefore, a portable platform, which offers rapid response, cost-efficiency, and high sensitivity, is indispensable for the healthcare of diabetes. In this study, we proposed a portable platform incorporating gold (Au) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) with a smartphone application based on machine learning for non-enzymatic glucose quantification. The color change obtained from the reaction of small and large Au/Ag NPs with glucose was captured using a smartphone camera to create a dataset for the training of machine-learning classifiers. Our custom-designed user-friendly smartphone application called "GlucoQuantifier" uses a cloud system to communicate with a remote server running a machine-learning classifier. Among the tested classifiers, linear discriminant analysis exhibits the best classification performance (93.63%) with small Au/Ag NPs and it demonstrates that incorporating Au/Ag NPs with machine learning under a smartphone application can be used for non-enzymatic glucose quantification.

Ecological safety with multifunctional applications of biogenic mono and bimetallic (Au-Ag) alloy nanoparticles.

Recently, the design and biosynthesis of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) have drawn immense interest, but their very specific function and secondary toxic effects are major concern towards commercial application of NPs. That's why environment-friendly (nontoxic) NPs having multiple functions are extremely important. Herein, we report the mechanism of biosynthesis of mono and bimetallic (Au-Ag) alloy NPs and study their multifunctional (antioxidant, antifungal and catalytic) activity and ecotoxicological property. AgNPs exhibit phytotoxicity (at 100 µg/ml) on morphological characteristics of Lentil (during germination), while alloy and AuNPs are non-toxic (up to 100 µg/ml). In-vitro antioxidant response using DPPH methods reveals that alloy NPs (IC50 = 55.8 µg/ml) possesses better antioxidant activity compared to the monometallic NPs (IC50 = 73.6-82.6 µg/ml). In addition, alloy NPs displayed appreciable antifungal efficacy against a plant pathogenic fungus Gloeosporium musarum by structural damage to hyphae and conidia of the fungus. The catalytic performance of NPs for degradation of chlorpyriphos (CP) pesticide reveals that alloy NPs is more efficient in terms of rate constant (k = 0.405 d-1) and half-life (T50 = 1.71 d) compared to the monometallic counterparts (k = 0.115-0.178 d-1; T50 = 3.89-6.04 d). Degradation products of CP (3,5,6-trichloropyridinol and diethyl thiophosphate) are confirmed using mass spectrometry and based on that a degradation pathway has been suggested. Thus, these sustainable and ecological safe biogenic (Au-Ag) alloy NPs promise multiple applications as an antioxidant in the pharmaceutical sector, as a fungicide for disease control in agriculture, as a catalyst for remediation of toxic pollutants and in other pertinent areas.

Fluorometric and colorimetric dual-readout alkaline phosphatase activity assay based on enzymatically induced formation of colored Au@Ag nanoparticles and an inner filter effect.

An ultrasensitive fluorometric and colorimetric dual-mode assay is described for the determination of the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP). ALP catalyzes the decomposition of 2-phospho-L-ascorbic acid, and the ascorbic acid thus generated reduces silver ions. In the presence of gold nanoparticles, gold-silver nanoparticles (Au@Ag NPs) are formed. This is accompanied by a color change form pink to deep yellow. The Au@Ag NPs reduce the fluorescence of blue fluorescent graphene quantum dots due to spectral overlap. The changes of absorbance (measured at 410 and 520 nm) and fluorescence (measured at excitation/emission wavelengths of 346/415 nm) correlate well with the ALP activity in the 0.01-6 mU·mL-1 (absorption) and 0.01-2 mU·mL-1 (fluorescence) ranges, and the detection limits are 9 and 5 µU·mL-1 individually. Graphical abstract Schematic presentation of colorimetric and fluorometric dual-readout assay for alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. It is based on enzymatically induced formation of gold-silver nanoparticles (Au@Ag NPs), and the fluorescence quenching of graphene quantum dots due to inner filter effect.

Single step formation of biocompatible bimetallic alloy nanoparticles of gold and silver using isonicotinylhydrazide.

Manufacturing nanoparticles with controlled physicochemical properties using environment-friendly routes have potential to open new prospects for a variety of applications. Accordingly, several approaches have been established for manufacturing metal nanoparticles. Many of these approaches entail the use of hazardous chemicals and could be toxic to the environment, and cannot be used readily for biomedical applications. In the present work, we report a single step bio-friendly approach to formulate gold (Au), silver (Ag), and Au-Ag alloy nanoparticles with desired surface corona and composition using isonicotinylhydrazide (INH) as a reducing agent. INH also functioned as a stabilizing agent by enabling a surface corona around the nanoparticles. Remarkably, within a single step INH could also provide a handle in regulating the composition of Au and Ag in bimetallic systems without any additional chemical modification. The physicochemical and surface properties of the different nanoparticles thus obtained have been examined by analytical, spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Cell cytotoxicity (release of lactate dehydrogenase), cell viability and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) assays confirmed that the Au, Ag, and Au-Ag bimetallic nanoparticles prepared with INH are biocompatible. Finally, the presence of organic surface corona of INH on the nanoparticles was found to impart nanozyme activity and antimycobacterial sensitivity to the nanoparticles.

Colorimetric detection of the ß-agonist ractopamine in animal feed, tissue and urine samples using gold-silver alloy nanoparticles modified with sulfanilic acid.

A highly sensitive, selective and simple method was proposed for colorimetric detection of ractopamine on the basis of the interaction between ractopamine and sulfanilic acid-modified gold-silver alloy nanoparticles (AuAgNPs). The AuAgNPs were prepared by the reduction of HAuCl4 and AgNO3 with sodium citrate in aqueous medium and further modified by sulfanilic acid. The interaction of ractopamine with sulfanilic acid induced rapid aggregation of sulfanilic acid-modified AuAgNPs along with an optical colour change, leading to precise quantification which could be detected by absorptiometry. Under the optimum conditions, the absorbance ratio (A600/A435) of sulfanilic acid-modified AuAgNPs exhibited a linear relationship with the concentration of ractopamine in the range of 4.5-31.6 ng/mL. The detection limit of ractopamine was 1.5 ng/mL. The established novel colorimetric detection method showed high selectivity towards ractopamine. The method was successfully applied to detect ractopamine in spiked pork, swine feed and swine urine samples with excellent recoveries from 94.4% to 112.5%. These results demonstrated that the proposed new method has a good potential for practical applications.

Nano-Aptasensing in Mycotoxin Analysis: Recent Updates and Progress.

Recent years have witnessed an overwhelming integration of nanomaterials in the fabrication of biosensors. Nanomaterials have been incorporated with the objective to achieve better analytical figures of merit in terms of limit of detection, linear range, assays stability, low production cost, etc. Nanomaterials can act as immobilization support, signal amplifier, mediator and artificial enzyme label in the construction of aptasensors. We aim in this work to review the recent progress in mycotoxin analysis. This review emphasizes on the function of the different nanomaterials in aptasensors architecture. We subsequently relate their features to the analytical performance of the given aptasensor towards mycotoxins monitoring. In the same context, a critically analysis and level of success for each nano-aptasensing design will be discussed. Finally, current challenges in nano-aptasensing design for mycotoxin analysis will be highlighted.

Eco-friendly synthesis of gelatin-capped bimetallic Au-Ag nanoparticles for chemiluminescence detection of anticancer raloxifene hydrochloride.

This study described the utility of green analytical chemistry in the synthesis of gelatin-capped silver, gold and bimetallic gold-silver nanoparticles (NPs). The preparation of nanoparticles was based on the reaction of silver nitrate or chlorauric acid with a 1.0 wt% aqueous gelatin solution at 50°C. The gelatin-capped silver, gold and bimetallic NPs were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, UV-vis, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and were used to enhance a sensitive sequential injection chemiluminescence luminol-potassium ferricyanide system for determination of the anticancer drug raloxifene hydrochloride. The developed method is eco-friendly and sensitive for chemiluminescence detection of the selected drug in its bulk powder, pharmaceutical injections and biosamples. After optimizing the conditions, a linear relationship in the range of 1.0 × 10(-9) to 1.0 × 10(-1)  mol/L was obtained with a limit of detection of 5.0 × 10(-10)  mol/L and a limit of quantification of 1.0 × 10(-9)  mol/L. Statistical treatment and method validation were performed based on ICH guidelines. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.