Colorimetric study of the interaction between gold nanoparticles and a series of amino acids

Study of the interaction between gold nanoparticles and a series of amino acids is reported in this paper. Amino acids with thiol, amine, or hydroxyl groups in their side chains are proven to make gold nanoparticles self-assemble under certain conditions. There is a progression of the effect on self-assembly of gold nanoparticles from hydroxyl < amine < thiol. Meanwhile, concentration of amino acids and the pH value of the solution have been found to be important for amino acids to exert the interesting effect on self-assembly of the nanoparticles.