Interaction of colloidal AgTiO2 nanoparticles with bovine serum albumin

The interaction between colloidal AgTiO2 nanoparticles and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was studied by using absorption, steady state, time resolved and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy measurements. Absorption spectroscopy proved the formation of a ground state BSA center dot center dot center dot AgTiO2 complex. Upon excitation of BSA, colloidal AgTiO2 nanoparticles effectively quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA. The number of binding sites (n = 1.06) and apparent binding constant (K = 3.71 x 10(5) M-1) were calculated by the fluorescence quenching method. A static mechanism and conformational changes of BSA were observed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.