Green Synthetic Approach for the Preparation of Blue Emitting Gold Nanoclusters: A Simple Analytical Method for Detection of Hexaconazole Fungicide

Vibhuti Atulbhai Sadhu; Sanjay Jha; Vaibhavkumar N Mehta; Sankara Rao Miditana; Tae Jung Park; Suresh Kumar Kailasa

doi:10.1007/s10895-024-03714-9

Green Synthetic Approach for the Preparation of Blue Emitting Gold Nanoclusters: A Simple Analytical Method for Detection of Hexaconazole Fungicide

J Fluoresc. 2024 Apr 27. doi: 10.1007/s10895-024-03714-9. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Vibhuti Atulbhai Sadhu¹, Sanjay Jha², Vaibhavkumar N Mehta², Sankara Rao Miditana³, Tae Jung Park⁴, Suresh Kumar Kailasa⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, 395 007, Gujarat, India.
² ASPEE Shakilam Biotechnology Institute, Navsari Agricultural University, Surat, 39500, Gujarat, India.
³ Department of Chemistry, Govt. Degree College, Puttur, Tirupati -517583, Andhra Pradesh, India.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Research Institute of Chem-Bio Diagnostic Technology, Chung-Ang University, 84, Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, 395 007, Gujarat, India. sureshkumarchem@gmail.com.

PMID: 38676770
DOI: 10.1007/s10895-024-03714-9

Abstract

Blue emissive Argyreia nervosa-capped gold nanoclusters (A. nervosa-AuNCs) were synthesized via a simple environment-friendly method. The developed probe exhibits rapid response towards the target analyte (hexaconazole fungicide). Several characterizations, including FT-IR, UV-visible, fluorescence, HR-TEM, XPS, and fluorescence lifetime, were studied to confirm the formation of A. nervosa-AuNCs. The A. nervosa-AuNCs displayed emission and excitation peaks at 470 and 390 nm, respectively. Furthermore, the quantum yield (QY) of A. nervosa-AuNCs was 21.25%. The as-synthesized A. nervosa-AuNCs showed a good linear response with hexaconazole in the concentration range of 0.025-180 μM, with a detection limit (LOD) of 21.94 nM, indicating A. nervosa-AuNCs could be used as a sensitive and selective probe for detecting hexaconazole through a fluorescence "turn-off" mechanism. The A. nervosa-AuNCs were successfully used to detect hexaconazole in real samples. Moreover, A. nervosa-AuNCs were used as a bio-imaging probe for visualization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells.

Keywords: Argyreia nervosa; Cell imaging; Gold nanoclusters; Hexaconazole; Turn-off mechanism.