This paper describes the sensing application of citrate functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) employing for the determination of L-cysteine in food and water samples. It is established with diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared (DRS-FTIR) spectroscopic analysis. The disappearance of the thiol (-SH) band in the FTIR spectra and the shift in the peaks of the amino group (NH3+) and carboxylate group (-COO-) indicated the Au-S interaction and the aggregation of the NPs. The signal intensity of L-cysteine was enhanced due to hot-spots formed by the aggregation of AuNPs producing the effective absorption of electromagnetic radiation in the IR region for molecular vibration. The relationship between AuNPs and L-cysteine was theoretically investigated by the Density Function Theory (DFT) based on LANL2DZ with the aid of the Gaussian 09 (C.01) software. Interaction between AuNPs and L-cysteine molecules resulted to a shift to higher wavelengths in the plasmon bands, further verified by transmission electron microscopes (TEM), which have indicated random aggregated particles. Further dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements showed a relatively high degree of polydispersity confirming the aggregation of the particles. Under optimized conditions, the calibration curve showed a good linearity range from 20 to 150 μg mL-1 with a correlation coefficient (R2) 0.990. The limit of detection and quantification were 1.04 and 3.44 μg mL-1, respectively by DRS-FTIR. This modified AuNPs sample was used successfully in milk and water samples with adequate results to determine L-cysteine.
Keywords: Diffuse reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; Gold nanoparticles; L-cysteine; Milk and water samples.
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