β-Cyclodextrin functionalized gold nanoparticles: characterization and its analytical application for l-tyrosine

Abstract

β-Cyclodextrin functionalized gold nanoparticles (β-CD-Au NPs) were synthesized and characterized. The interaction of β-CD-Au NPs with l-tyrosine (l-Tyr) is studied by fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy. β-CD-Au NPs was found to remarkably quench fluorescence of l-Tyr at 305 nm. Experimental conditions including media acidity, temperature and concentration of buffer were examined for the inclusion formation. Furthermore, fluorescence resonance energy transfer occurred with Foster radius 2.39 nm. Apparent binding constants and corresponding thermodynamic parameters at different temperatures were calculated by Stern–Volmer equation and thermodynamic formula, respectively. The binding constant declines with the increasing temperature illustrating static quenching exists and the binding l-Tyr on β-CD-Au NPs is a spontaneous molecular interaction process in which entropy and Gibbs free energy decreases. Hydrophobic interaction and van der Waals forces could be in dominant action in the formation of the complex. The concentration of l-Tyr is proportional to decrease of the fluorescence intensity in the range of 0.02–1.5 μM with the detection limit (S/N = 3) of 1.6 nM. There is little interference from the coexisting substances normally used as the pharmaceutical main compositions. The proposed method combined the unique physical and chemical properties of the gold core with the molecular recognition ability of β-CD and possessed high sensitivity and good selectivety. It has been successfully applied to determination of l-Tyr in compound amino acid injection.