Spectroscopic detection of clenbuterol applying gold nanoparticles encapsulated with melamine

In this paper, a simple, rapid and highly sensitive method for detecting trace amount of clenbuterol based on gold nanoparticles (GNPs) encapsulated with melamine was investigated. Morphological characterization using SEM and AFM revealed that the size of obtained GNPs was about 15 nm. The hydrogen-bonding interaction existed between clenbuterol and melamine, which caused the aggregation of GNPs, was demonstrated by FT-IR and EELS spectrum. Consequently, the concentration of clenbuterol can be measured by the change of GNPs' color and optical absorption band with naked eye or absorption spectrum, respectively. A relationship existed between the intensity of the absorption band and concentration of clenbuterol. The possible impurities in practical applications such as alanine, MgCl2, tryptophan, NaCI, did not interfere in the detection of clenbuterol. The proposed protocol showed promising applications in the clinical and industrial detection of clenbuterol in food safety area.