Visual detection of kanamycin with functionalized Au nanoparticles

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Accurate detection of kanamycin is crucial for pharmaceutical quality control and environmental monitoring.
• Existing methods for kanamycin detection can be complex, time-consuming, or require expensive instrumentation.
• Development of simple, sensitive, and selective detection strategies is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple, rapid, and highly selective colorimetric method for kanamycin detection.
• To utilize hydrogen bond interactions between 6-thioguanine functionalized gold nanoparticles and kanamycin for detection.
• To quantify kanamycin concentrations using UV-vis spectrophotometry.

Main Methods:

• Functionalization of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with 6-thioguanine (6-TG).
• Exploitation of hydrogen bonding between 6-TG and kanamycin to induce AuNP aggregation.
• Colorimetric detection of AuNP aggregation via UV-vis spectrophotometry, monitoring absorbance ratios (A620/A520).

Main Results:

• A linear relationship was observed between kanamycin concentrations (0.005 to 18 µM) and the absorbance ratio (A620/A520).
• The method achieved a low limit of detection (LOD) of 1.8 nM and a limit of quantification (LOQ) of 5.9 nM.
• High selectivity was demonstrated against common interfering substances, and results in real samples correlated well with HPLC.

Conclusions:

• The developed colorimetric strategy offers a facile, inexpensive, and sensitive method for kanamycin detection.
• The method's simplicity and lack of need for complex procedures make it suitable for practical applications.
• This work contributes to the advancement of colorimetric detection methods for organic contaminants.