Coordination-induced decomposition of luminescent gold nanoparticles: sensitive detection of H₂O₂ and glucose

The surface inert of luminescent gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) toward biomolecules set a challenge to further exploit their bioanalytical applications using the direct luminescence response. Herein, we report a novel approach to induce significant luminescence quenching of the AuNPs upon the interaction with a metal coordination ligand tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP), providing a strategy for the detection of H₂O₂ with a limit of detection (LOD) of 14 nM through the reaction between H₂O₂ and TCEP to protect the luminescence quenching of the AuNPs. Furthermore, this strategy is also extended for sensitive and selective detection of glucose with a LOD of 1.1 μM based on monitoring the production of H₂O₂ catalyzed from the oxidation of glucose. The highly extendable feature of this strategy can have great potential in the sensitive detection of other biomolecules. Graphical Abstract A facile and extendable strategy has been developed for the sensitive detection of H₂O₂ and glucose based on the interaction between luminescent gold nanoparticles and TCEP, a metal coordination ligand.