Many organophosphates (OPs), commonly used as pesticides in the United States, are highly toxic to humans and animals because they can disrupt the nervous system, causing death at high exposures. Thus, accurate monitoring of OPs in an agricultural environment is important. In this investigation, a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel crosslinked with glutaraldehyde and decorated with crosslinked β-cyclodextrin and gold nanoparticles (AuNP) was synthesized. The dry AuNP decorated hydrogel had a distinct local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak at approximately 533 nm which blue-shifted to approximately 526 nm upon swelling in water for 30 minutes. When the same gel was exposed to solutions with varying concentrations of the OPs and parathion, the blue-shift upon swelling was found to be a function of the parathion concentration. Identical hydrogels without β-cyclodextrin had the same blue-shift when swelled regardless of parathion concentration. Although further investigation is needed, this suggests that the standardization of the results can be used to evaluate unknown concentrations of parathion in solutions.

Fabrication of polyvinyl alcohol thin film synthesized with gold nanoparticle and β-cyclodextrin for detection of parathion

255th National Meeting (2018)

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