Abstract
We report our findings that natural flavonoids such as quercetin, daizeol and puerarin can act as reductants for the enlargement of gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs). Consequently, the UV–vis spectra of a solution containing Au-NPs will be gradually changed, and the molecules of the natural herbs can be detected by making use of changes in the UV–visible spectra. Furthermore, we have prepared a self-assembled monolayer modified electrode by modifying cysteamine on a gold substrate electrode, which is further modified by some Au-NP seeds. When the modified electrode is immersed in a solution containing flavonoids and tetrachloroauric acid as a gold source for the growth of the Au-NP seeds, with the increase of the concentration of flavonoids, the Au-NP seeds on the surface of the modified electrode can be enlarged to varying degrees. As a result, the peak currents in the corresponding cyclic voltammograms are inversely decreased, and simultaneously the peak separation is increased. Therefore, an electrochemical method to detect flavonoids is also proposed. Compared with the optical detection method, the electrochemical method has an extraordinarily lower detection limit and a significantly extended detection range. Moreover, the optical and electrochemical experimental results can be also used to assay and compare the relative antioxidant activities of the flavonoids.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Lewis LN (1993) Chem Rev 93:2693–2730
Haruta M, Daté M (2001) Appl Catal A 222:427–437
Chan WCW, Nie SM (1998) Science 281:2016–2018
Nicewarner Peña SR, Freeman RG, Reiss BD, He L, Peña DJ, Walton ID, Cromer R, Keating CD, Natan MJ (2001) Science 294:137–141
Haes AJ, Van Duyne RP (2002) J Am Chem Soc 124:10596–10604
Zayats M, Baron R., Popov I, Willner I (2005) Nano Lett 5:21–25
Xiao Y, Pavlov V, Levine S, Niazov T, Markovitch G, Willner I (2004) Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 43:4519–4522
Zayats M, Baron R, Popov I, Willner I (2005) Anal Chem 77:1566–1571
Xiao Y, Pavlov V, Shlyahovsky B, Willner I (2005) Chem Eur J 11:2698
Zhou N, Wang J, Chen T, Yu Z, Li G, (2006) Anal Chem 78:5227–5230
Scampicchio M, Wang J, Blasco AJ, Arribas AS, Mannino S, Escarpa A (2006) Anal Chem 78:2060–2063
Block G (1992) Nutr Rev 50:207–213
Block G, Langseth L (1994) Food Technol July 80–84
Vijayababu MR, Kanagaraj P, Arunkumar A, Ilangovan R, Dharmarajan A, Arunakaran J (2006) Oncol Res 16:67–74
Jenkins DJA, Kendall CWC, Ransom TPP (1998) Nutr Res 18:633–652
American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) (2001) Cereal Foods World 46:112–126
Catherine A, Evans R, Miller N, Paganga G (1996) Free Radic Bio Med 20:933–956
Robards K, Antolovich M (1997) Analyst 122:20R
Paul AK, Onglei Z, Andrew LW (2001) J Agric Food Chem 49:1957–1965
Mannino S, Brenna O, Buratti S, Cosio MS (1998) Electroanalysis 10:908
Resüat A, Kubilay G, Mustafa O, Saliha EK (2004) J Agric Food Chem 52:7970–7981
Cao G, Sofic E, Prior RL (1996) J Agric Food Chem 44:3426
Wang H, Cao G, Prior RL (1996) J Agric Food Chem 44:701
Busbee BD, Obare SO, Murphy CJ (2003) Adv Mater 15:414–416
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 90406005, 20575028) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University, the Chinese Ministry of Education (NCET-04-0452).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, J., Zhou, N., Zhu, Z. et al. Detection of flavonoids and assay for their antioxidant activity based on enlargement of gold nanoparticles. Anal Bioanal Chem 388, 1199–1205 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-007-1295-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-007-1295-y