Naked eye detection of infertility based on sperm protamine-induced aggregation of heparin gold nanoparticles.

The development of an easy to use, one-pot, environmentally friendly, non-invasive and label-free colorimetric probe for the determination of semen protamines, the biochemical marker of male fertility, using heparin gold nanoparticles (HAuNPs) is presented. The affinity of HAuNPs for protamines was due to the electrostatic interactions between polycationic protamine and polyanionic heparin. The binding of HAuNPs to protamine was characterized by variation in the plasmon absorption spectra followed by a visibly observable colour change of the solution from red to blue.

Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Properties and Applications--A Review.

The past few decades have witnessed significant advances in the development of functionalized gold nanoparticles for applications in various fields such as chemistry, biology, pharmacy and physics. Although it has been more than 150 years since they were first synthesized, extensive research has recently been undertaken to improve or modify gold nanoparticles, thereby opening up opportunities to enhance and optimize their potential and breadth of their applicability. Recently developed methods have allowed a precise control of gold nanoparticle size and the modification of gold nanoparticles with suitable protecting and functionalizing agents, facilitate their applications in different areas such as chemical and biological sensing, imaging and biomedical applications.

Enzymatic glucose sensor based on Au nanoparticle and plant-like ZnO film modified electrode.

A novel electrochemical glucose sensor was developed by employing a composite film of plant-like Zinc oxide (ZnO) and chitosan stabilized spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on which Glucose oxidaze (GOx) was immobilized. The ZnO was deposited on an indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass and the AuNPs of average diameter of 23 nm were loaded on ZnO as the second layer. The prepared ITO/ZnO/AuNPs/GOx bioelectrode exhibited a low value of Michaelis-Menten constant of 1.

Aggregation properties of heavy atom substituted squaraine dyes: evidence for the formation of J-type dimer aggregates in aprotic solvents.

The squaraine dye bis(2,4,6-trihydroxyphenyl)squaraine (SqH) was earlier reported to form J-type dimer aggregates in acetonitrile solutions at higher concentrations. Subsequent studies have suggested that concentration-dependent changes in the absorption spectrum of SqH in acetonitrile could be attributed to shifts in the acid-base equilibrium due to the presence of water as an impurity. In this work, we describe our studies on the effect of varying acid and dye concentration on the absorption spectra of the bromo and iodo substituted dyes, bis(3,5-dibromo-2,4,6-trihydroxyphenyl)squaraine (SqBr) and bis(3,5-diiodo-2,4,6-trihydroxyphenyl)squaraine (SqI).