Gold nanoparticles having dipicolinic acid imprinted nanoshell for Bacillus cereus spores recognition

Taking into account the recognition element for sensors linked to molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs), a proliferation of interest has been witnessed by those who are interested in this subject. Indeed, MIP nanoparticles are theme which recently has come to light in the literature. In this study, we have proposed a novel thiol ligand-capping method with polymerizable methacryloylamidocysteine (MAC) attached to gold nanoparticles, reminiscent of a self-assembled monolayer. Furthermore, a surface shell by synthetic host polymers based on molecular imprinting method for recognition has been reconstructed. In this method, methacryloyl iminodiacetic acid-chrome (MAIDA-Cr(III)) has been used as a new metal-chelating monomer via metal coordination-chelation interactions and dipicolinic acid (DPA) which is the main participant of Bacillus cereus spores has been used as a template. Nanoshell sensors with templates produce a cavity that is selective for DPA. The DPA can simultaneously chelate to Cr(III) metal ion and fit into the shape-selective cavity. Thus, the interaction between Cr(III) ion and free coordination spheres has an effect on the binding ability of the gold nanoparticles nanosensor. The interactions between DPA and MIP particles were studied observing fluorescence measurements. DPA addition caused significant decreases in fluorescence intensity because they induced photoluminescence emission from Au nanoparticles through the specific binding to the recognition sites of the crosslinked nanoshell polymer matrix. The binding affinity of the DPA imprinted nanoparticles has been explored by using the Langmuir and Scatchard methods and the analysis of the quenching results has been performed in terms of the Stern-Volmer equation. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.