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Colorimetric and visual dopamine assay based on the use of gold nanorods

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Abstract

The authors describe an optical method for the determination of dopamine (DA). It is based on the use of gold nanorods (AuNRs) with an aspect ratio of 3.2 and an absorption maximum at 700 nm. The AuNRs were synthesized via a seed-mediated growth route. The addition of various DA concentrations to the aqueous AuNRs results in a color change bluish-purple to colorless. The addition of DA is accompanied by a linear decrease in absorbance, a blue-shift of the peak to 687 nm, and the formation of a new band peaking at 720 nm on increasing in the DA concentration to 100 μM. It is found that DA causes an aggregation of the AuNRs through the formation of interparticle plasmon-linkages between DA molecules and AuNRs. This was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. This new colorimetric probe for DA shows good selectivity for DA even in the presence of potentially interfering species. Several linearranges are observed between the changes in absorption at around 687 and at around 720 nm and the DA concentration in the range between 100 nM and 10 mM. The limit of detection is 30 nM. The method was successfully employed to the determination of DA in spiked human urine samples.

Schematic of a reliable, highly selective, and sensitive method for the detection of dopamine using the localized surface plasmon resonance of bare gold nanorods.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by a University of Malaya Research Grant UMRG programme (RP007C-13AFR) and the High Impact Research Grant from the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia (UM.C/625/1/HIR/MOHE/05).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Low Dimensional Materials Research Centre, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, -50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Peik See Teo & Perumal Rameshkumar

  2. Department of Chemistry, Kalasalingam University (Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education), Krishnankoil, Tamil Nadu, -626 126, India

    Perumal Rameshkumar

  3. Electrochemical Materials Science and Functional Materials Division, CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Karaikudi, -630 003, India

    Alagarsamy Pandikumar

  4. School of Engineering and Information Technology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, 6150, Australia

    Zhong-Tao Jiang & Mohammednoor Altarawneh

  5. Faculty of Engineering, Xiamen University of Malaysia, Jalan Sunsuria, Bandar Sunsuria, 43900, Sepang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

    Nay Ming Huang

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  1. Peik See Teo
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  2. Perumal Rameshkumar
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  3. Alagarsamy Pandikumar
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  4. Zhong-Tao Jiang
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  5. Mohammednoor Altarawneh
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  6. Nay Ming Huang
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Correspondence to Perumal Rameshkumar or Nay Ming Huang.

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Teo, P.S., Rameshkumar, P., Pandikumar, A. et al. Colorimetric and visual dopamine assay based on the use of gold nanorods. Microchim Acta 184, 4125–4132 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-017-2435-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-017-2435-5

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