Recent progress on surface chemistry of plasmonic metal nanoparticles for colorimetric assay of drugs in pharmaceutical and biological samples

Plasmonic metal nanoparticles have been explored as a new class of chemical read-outs for assaying of a variety of chemical and biological species because of their unique physico-chemical and size dependent properties. Metal nanoparticles-based optical technologies are based on either new class of organic molecular assembly or with aggregation-induced optical changes features, which can also improve the sensitivity of drug assays in pharmaceutical analysis. This review describes the advantages of surface chemistry of plasmonic metal nanoparticles (e.g., silver, copper, gold, and platinum) for tuning of their colorimetric sensing applications in various drugs assays in pharmaceutical and biological samples. It provides insights of various plasmonic metal nanoparticles-based sensing strategies for the selective, sensitive and simultaneous colorimetric assay of drugs in pharmaceutical samples. Finally, we listed some research challenges to accelerate the development of plasmonic metal nanoparticles-based colorimetric sensors that are directly applicable for assaying drugs in pharmaceutical samples. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.