Interaction of a novel starch‐capped CdS quantum dots with human serum albumin and bovine serum albumin

Abstract

A novel CdS quantum dots (QDs) were successfully synthesized in aqueous phase using poly (acrylic acid) grafted onto starch (starch‐g‐PAA). UV–vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) techniques proved that the prepared starch‐capped CdS QDs are composed of a CdS core and a polymeric shell with homogeneous size distributions. In order to study its biological behavior, multi‐spectroscopic techniques were adopted to investigate their conjugation with human serum albumin (HSA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) proteins. The recorded UV–vis spectra, cyclic voltammetry (CV) analysis, and the calculated rate of HSA and BSA fluorescence quenching by the QDs demonstrated that the interaction between them leads to the formation of QDs‐HSA and QDs‐BSA complexes. Moreover, FT‐IR spectra showed the conformational changes of the protein in the presence of obtained QDs, indicating the presence of interaction between modified QDs and proteins.