Localized surface plasmon resonance sensing of Trenbolone acetate dopant using silver nanoparticles

Moses Wabwile Juma; Zephania Birech; Nancy Mwikali Mwenze; Annah Moraa Ondieki; Malik Maaza; Simon Dhlamini Mokhotjwa

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-56456-w

Localized surface plasmon resonance sensing of Trenbolone acetate dopant using silver nanoparticles

Sci Rep. 2024 Mar 8;14(1):5721. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-56456-w.

Authors

Moses Wabwile Juma^{1

2

3

4}, Zephania Birech⁵, Nancy Mwikali Mwenze^{6

7

8

5}, Annah Moraa Ondieki⁵, Malik Maaza^{6

7

8}, Simon Dhlamini Mokhotjwa⁸

Affiliations

¹ UNESCO-UNISA Africa Chair in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (U2ACN2), College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa. jmwabwire@gmail.com.
² NANOAFNET, iThemba LABS-National Research Foundation of South Africa, 1 Old Faure Road, Cape Town, 7129, Western Cape, South Africa. jmwabwire@gmail.com.
³ Department of Physics, University of South Africa, Muckleneuk Ridge, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa. jmwabwire@gmail.com.
⁴ Laser Physics and Spectroscopy Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Nairobi, P.O Box 30197-00100, Nairobi, Kenya. jmwabwire@gmail.com.
⁵ Laser Physics and Spectroscopy Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Nairobi, P.O Box 30197-00100, Nairobi, Kenya.
⁶ UNESCO-UNISA Africa Chair in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (U2ACN2), College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa.
⁷ NANOAFNET, iThemba LABS-National Research Foundation of South Africa, 1 Old Faure Road, Cape Town, 7129, Western Cape, South Africa.
⁸ Department of Physics, University of South Africa, Muckleneuk Ridge, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa.

Abstract

In this work, localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensing as applicable in the detection of Trenbolone acetate dopant is demonstrated. We show that the LSPR of the Trenbolone acetate/silver nanoparticle (Tren Ac/AgNPs) complex is sensitive to changes in the adsorbent concentration. The results show an average redshift of + 18 nm in the LSPR peak with variations in intensity and broadening behavior of the LSPR band of the Tren Ac/AgNPs complex. AgNPs were synthesized using laser ablation in liquid (LAL) technique with water as the solvent. UV-Vis spectroscopy was used for absorbance measurements and particle size and morphology were monitored using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The aggregation behavior of the Tren Ac/AgNPs complex was monitored using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Molecular Electrostatic Potential (MEP) and the HOMO-LUMO orbitals of the optimized Trenbolone acetate structure were obtained using Density Function Theory (DFT). The molecule was optimized at the B3LYP level of theory using the 6-311 basis set carried out using the Gaussian 09 software package. The results showed that O^2- is Trenbolone acetate's active site that would interact with Ag⁺ to form a complex that would influence the plasmon behavior. The results presented in this work demonstrate the feasibility of LSPR for anabolic androgenic steroid detection.

Keywords: Density functional theory (DFT); Doping; Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR); Trenbolone acetate.