Enhancement effect of p-iodophenol on gold nanoparticle-catalyzed chemiluminescence and its applications in detection of thiols and guanidine

Abstract

In the present study, the effects of nine compounds on the luminol-O2 chemiluminescence (CL) reaction catalyzed by gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were investigated. p-Iodophenol (PIP), known as a traditional enhancer in horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-catalyzed luminol-H2O2 CL reaction, exhibited the highest enhancement effect on the luminol-O2-Au NPs CL reaction. The addition of PIP at a final concentration of 1.25 mM to luminol-O2-Au NPs CL system enhanced the CL signal almost 30-fold. Interestingly, the enhanced CL reaction exhibited a slow and intense CL signal which is different from the CL profile of luminol-H2O2-Au NPs CL system reported in previously. The experimental conditions of the PIP enhanced luminol-O2-Au NPs CL system were investigated systematically in the present study. And the mechanism studies showed that superoxide anion (O2•-) and singlet oxygen (1O2) generated from dissolved oxygen played an important role during the CL reaction. Furthermore, the effects of some organic compounds on the enhanced CL system were investigated. The results showed that compounds containing -SH and guanidine group can inhibit the signal of the enhanced CL reaction indicating the applicability of the proposed CL reaction for the detection of such compounds.