.

Various natural proteins are finding application in drug delivery for their high biodegradability and biocompatibility. Albumins are well explored and now focus is shifting to other proteins like hemoglobin (Hb) with unique structural properties. In the present study Hb is allowed to denature at pH 5.

Room temperature synthesis of NIR emitting AgS nanoparticles through aqueous route and its influence on structural modulation of DNA.

Near infra-red (NIR) light emitting nanomaterials had shown great promise in clinical imaging in view of negligible absorption by skin or tissue of mammalian. Thus, it demands for synthesizing stable NIR emitting nanomaterials in water environment. The present work presents synthesis of biologically acceptable luminescent near-IR emitting silver sulfide nanoparticles through an aqueous route using 2-mercaptoethanol.

Interaction of flavonols with human serum albumin: a biophysical study showing structure-activity relationship and enhancement when coated on silver nanoparticles.

Binding affinities of flavonols namely quercetin, myricetin, and kaempferol to human serum albumin (HSA) were determined fluorimetrically and the order was observed to be myricetin > quercetin > kaempferol demonstrating structure-activity relationship. Quercetin-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) show higher binding affinity to HSA compared to free quercetin with binding constants 6.04 × 10 M and 4.

Synthesis of Excitation Independent Highly Luminescent Graphene Quantum Dots through Perchloric Acid Oxidation.

We demonstrate a facile liquid phase exfoliation method by only using perchloric acid to synthesize graphene quantum dots (GQDs) having excitation independent strong emission with a quantum yield of about 14%. The proposed simplified synthesis strategy can help in overcoming the limitations of existing aqueous routes which produce GQDs with excitation dependent emission and of low quantum efficiency. Photoluminescence (PL) properties of GQDs have been studied in detail to understand the origin of emission.

Exploiting the biomimetic and luminescence properties of multivalent dendrimer-semiconductor nanohybrid materials in the ultra-low level determination of folic acid.

In view of the enhanced generation of folate receptors in cancerous cells and diseases linked to the deficiency of folic acid, such as anemia, mental devolution, congenital malformation, etc., the development of a simple method for the ultra-sensitive determination of folic acid remains a long-standing issue for practical applications in medicine and biotechnology. Thus, the proposed luminescence based strategy involving multifunctional poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer encapsulated quantum dots (QDs) as a probe provides a simple, fast and efficient method for the selective determination of folic acid at the nano-molar level.

Aqueous Synthesis of Protein-Encapsulated ZnSe Quantum Dots and Physical Significance of Semiconductor-Induced Cu Ion Sensing.

In view of their promising bio-applicability, we have synthesized water-soluble bovine serum albumin (BSA)-encapsulated ZnSe quantum dots (QDs) with visible emission with longer average luminescence lifetimes of approximately 125 ns at ambient conditions. BSA-ZnSe QDs are shown to be efficient selective copper ion probes in the presence of physiologically important metal ions through luminescence quenching with a high Stern-Volmer constant (3.3×10  m ).

A comparative evaluation of the activity modulation of flavo and non-flavo enzymes induced by graphene oxide.

Graphene, and its water soluble derivative graphene oxide, has shown great promise in various biomedical applications, such as cancer therapeutics, drug delivery, etc. and in industrial applications such as enzyme immobilization, etc. Thus, modulation of the activities of different classes of enzymes by graphene materials is an important aspect in the formulation of different biological applications.

SERS Enhancement on the Basis of Temperature-Dependent Chemisorption: Microcalorimetric Evidence.

The mechanism of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is not very clear in view of the magnitude of the contribution of electromagnetic factor as well as the chemical mechanism. This report presents the extent of adsorption at different temperatures in terms of signal enhancements in SERS employing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of various shapes as substrate and dye molecules, crystal violet or Rhodamine 6G, as model Raman probes. Initially, the SERS signal increases with increasing temperature until a maximum intensity is reached, before it gradually decreases with increasing temperature.

Synthesis and spectral measurements of sulphonated graphene: some anomalous observations.

The present report demonstrates how a sulphonation process, a key route for synthesizing water soluble graphene, can influence the optical behavior of precursor graphene oxide, intermediate reaction products and sulphonated graphene. We observed that there is constant emission maximum at 500 nm for graphene oxide in the excitation range of 320-450 nm. During sulphonation, sulphonated reduced graphene oxide (rGO-SO3H) is initially formed which has an emission at 358 nm.