Silver nanoparticles have a wide range of applications in household products and industry due to their strong antibacterial properties. The high utility of this nanomaterial has raised concerns about their toxicity to humans as well as the environment. The major setback has been no clear agreement among researchers towards establishing the mechanism of interaction of silver nanoparticles with the environment and biological media. One major understanding is due to leakage of silver ions from nanosilver or interaction of nanosilver with different cellular components. In these circumstances, differentiating nano silver from silver ions would provide a good starting point to understand the role of different silver species towards toxicity. The concentration of silver within a given media or sample can be identified using various existing analytical methods including Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and ICP-MS. However, the sample preparation techniques limit the ability to differentiate various silver species. A proposed solution includes the development of an optical biosensor that would readily identify and differentiate different silver species within the biological medium. Our group has recently developed a phosphorescent gold(I)- pyrazolate cyclic trinuclear complex (AuT) material with optical properties sensitive to presence vs absence of silver ions in silver nanoparticle media. In the presence of silver nanoparticles, the sensor exhibits a strong red emission (λ <sub>max</sub> ~ 690nm), while in the presence of silver ions, the AuT exhibits a blue-shifted green emission (λ <sub>max</sub> ~475nm), sensitive to the concentration of silver ions. The stability of the complex is interrogated within different chemical and biological media. In this study, the synthesis conditions of the sensor have been optimized to suit for sensing silver ions in the biological media. The sensor has been synthesized in different media and under different conditions to understand the applicability of the sensor in the biological media.

Optimizing the stability of an optical bio-sensor for differentiating free silver ions (Ag+) from silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in biological medium

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.