Kanamycin detection based on the catalytic ability enhancement of gold nanoparticles

In this paper, we demonstrated that kanamycin could enhance the peroxidase-like activity of citrate-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) through two steps: the attachment of kanamycin onto AuNPs through -NH₂ (on kanamycin) and -COOH (on AuNPs) interactions; and the specifically interaction between glucoside on kanamycin and AuNPs which changes the surface property of AuNPs, and produced •OH radicals and Au³⁺ in the solution, and catalyzed the chromogenic reactions between 3, 3', 5, 5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and H₂O₂. Based on this principle, a novel method for kanamycin detection has been developed. This method exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity, as low as 0.1nM kanamycin could be detected with a linear range from 0.1nM to 20nM and 20nM to 300nM, respectively. This method was also successfully applied for the detection of kanamycin content in milk and meat samples.