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Antibody-free colorimetric determination of total aflatoxins by mercury(II)-mediated aggregation of lysine-functionalized gold nanoparticles

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Abstract

Currently known immunoassays for aflatoxins (AFs) usually are not capable of simultaneous determination of total AFs (i.e., aflatoxin B1, aflatoxin B2, aflatoxin G1, aflatoxin G2) due to the lack of group-specific antibodies. We are presenting here a colorimetric method for determination of total AFs by exploiting the Hg(II) ion-mediated aggregation of lysine-functionalized gold nanoparticles (Lys-AuNPs). AFs bind Hg(II) ion to form stable complexes, and this prevents the Hg(II) induced aggregation of Lys-AuNPs. Hence, the color change of solutions of AuNPs that occurs after aggregation of the AuNPs is suppressed. This effect was exploited to design a method for quantitation of AFs that can be detected by UV-Vis spectrophotometry (by measuring the ratio of absorbances at 725 nm and 525 nm), and even with bare eyes. The method has a very low detection limit (1.1 ppb) and is highly selective for AFs over other mycotoxins. Colorimetric analysis of rice samples by this method gave results that were in good agreement with those obtained by HPLC. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method for visual detection of total AFs based on the distance-dependent optical properties of AuNPs.

Aflatoxins (AFs) coordinate with Hg2+ ions to form AF-Hg2+ complexes and prevent the Hg2+-induced aggregation of lysine-modified gold nanoparticles (Lys-AuNPs). This results in a gray-blue to red color change of solutions and enables the determination of total AFs by UV-Vis spectrophotometry or bare eyes.

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Acknowledgment

This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21272263, 31201832), the State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs (No. K20140204), and the National S&T Pillar Project (2011BAD26B0405). We thank Yang Li (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences) for the help of mass spectrometry and Chenchen Guo (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) for the help of theoretical calculation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Bibai Du, Can Xiao, Ying Zhou, Li Wu, Hong Zhao, Jingkui Yang & Yujian He

  2. Key Laboratory of Agro-Product Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Quality Standards & Testing Technology for Agro-Products, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Peilong Wang & Xiaoou Su

  3. State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Li Wu & Yujian He

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  1. Bibai Du
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  2. Peilong Wang
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  3. Can Xiao
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  4. Ying Zhou
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  5. Li Wu
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  6. Hong Zhao
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Correspondence to Jingkui Yang or Yujian He.

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The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests

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Bibai Du and Peilong Wang contributed equally to this work

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Du, B., Wang, P., Xiao, C. et al. Antibody-free colorimetric determination of total aflatoxins by mercury(II)-mediated aggregation of lysine-functionalized gold nanoparticles. Microchim Acta 183, 1493–1500 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1786-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1786-7

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