Colorimetric Detection of Ascorbic Acid Based on the Trigger of Gold Nanoparticles Aggregation by Cr(III) Reduced from Cr(VI)

Ning Sui; Fengya Liu; Tailing Li; Lina Wang; Tao Wang; Manhong Liu; William W Yu

doi:10.2116/analsci.33.963

Colorimetric Detection of Ascorbic Acid Based on the Trigger of Gold Nanoparticles Aggregation by Cr(III) Reduced from Cr(VI)

Anal Sci. 2017;33(8):963-967. doi: 10.2116/analsci.33.963.

Authors

Ning Sui¹, Fengya Liu¹, Tailing Li¹, Lina Wang², Tao Wang¹, Manhong Liu¹, William W Yu^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology.
² College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Key Laboratory of Eco-Chemical Engineering, Ministry of Education, Qingdao University of Science and Technology.
³ Department of Chemistry and Physics, Louisiana State University.

PMID: 28794335
DOI: 10.2116/analsci.33.963

Abstract

Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) dispersed in water were stabilized by tripolyphosphate (P₃O₁₀^5-). When Cr₂O₇^2- (Cr(VI)) was present, the AuNPs did not change; when Cr³⁺ (Cr(III)) was present, the AuNPs would aggregate because of cooperative metal-ligand reaction. Aggregated AuNPs showed different color from the non-aggregated ones. Thus, a simple colorimetric assay was made using AuNPs-Cr(VI) to detect ascorbic acid (AA). Upon introducing AA to the AuNPs-Cr(VI) system, Cr(VI) was reduced to Cr(III), and the aggregation of AuNPs occurred. This colorimetric assay performed high selectivity and a linear concentration response in the range of 0.2 to 10 μM; its limit of detection was 0.15 μM.

Keywords: Cr(III); Cr(VI); Gold nanoparticles; aggregation; ascorbic acid.