Sucrose capped gold nanoparticles as a plasmonic chemical sensor based on non-covalent interactions: Application for selective detection of vitamins B1 and B6 in brown and white rice food samples

•Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as a plasmonic chemical sensor for vitamins B1 and B6 in rice.•Detection based on color change from pink to blue and red shift of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of AuNPs.•The color change/red shift of LSPR band is due to the non-covalent interaction between AuNPs and B1 and B6. We report simple and selective method for detection of vitamins B1 and B6 in brown and white rice samples using localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of sucrose capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as a chemical sensor colorimetrically. Here, detection is based on the color change of AuNPs from pink to blue followed by a red shift of LSPR absorption band in UV–vis region with the addition of vitamins B1 and B6 into the NPs solution. A good linear range was observed in the range of 25–1000 ngmL−1 with detection limit of 8 ngmL−1 for B1 and 50–1000 ngmL−1 with detection limit of 15 ngmL−1 for vitamins B6. The employment of AuNPs for detection of B1 and B6 vitamins in rice food samples showed remarkable abilities in terms of the simplicity, low cost, stability, reproducibility and sensitivity.