Circular dichroism study of chiral biomolecules conjugated nanoparticles

Chiral biomolecules conjugated with silver nanoparticles were investigated by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Silver nanoparticles were prepared by the citrate reduction method and were characterized by UV spectroscopy and TEM. Conjugation of thiol group-containing biomolecules, such as cysteine, glutathione and penicillamine, with silver nanoparticles resulted in the generation of new characteristic CD signals in the region of 240-400 nm, whereas no CD signal changes were found with lysine or glutamine. Association through hydrogen bonding among the biomolecules is considered to be essential for CD signal generation, which was confirmed by experiment with cysteine methyl ester. Interestingly, Au nanoparticles were not found to generate CD signals in the wavelength region tested, indicating that this phenomenon is a unique feature of silver nanoparticles, distinguished from gold nanoparticles.