Chemical Transformation of Typical Biological Recognition Elements in Reactions with Nanosized Targets: A Study of Glutathione Coated Silver Nanoparticles

Glutathione (GT) is a complexing agent that plays a key role in the functioning of a living cell. Gold nanoparticles are often used as transducers of nanosized biosensors, since they have the optical and chemical properties necessary for sensory applications, and make it possible to form a sensitive layer with the desired recognition element. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) also have attracted increasing interest to sensor applications due to the narrower plasmon resonance band compared to gold nanoparticles, but different surface chemistry. The purpose of this study is to provide an information about GT-coated AgNPs evolution as a system consisting of AgNPs transducer and GT recognition element. AgNPs are transformed through Ag+ to amorphous Ag, while GT promotes AgNPs to be dissolved, and gets decomposed by reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the transformation.