The authors presented a simple colorimetric assay for the detection of toxic heavy metal lead（Ⅱ） ion（Pb2＋） Pentapeptide, cysteine-alanine-leacine-asparagine-asparagine（CALNN）, functionalized gold nanoparticles（GNPs） were aggregated in the presence of the divalent metal ion in solution by an ion-templated chelation process, which caused an easily measurable change in the absorption spectrum of the particles. Typically, mono-dispersing GNPs exhibit an absorption band at 522 nm, corresponding to a red color solution, while aggregated GNPs have it at longer wavelengths, corresponding to a purple or blue color solution. The chelation/aggregation process is reversible via the addition of a strong metal ion chelator such as EDTA. Highly selective and sensitive detection of Pb^2＋ in aqueous solution is thus provided. A detection limit of 0.1 μmol/L of Pb^2＋ was demonstrated.
We present a newly designed colorimetric sensor sensitive to pH value based on a gold nanocomposite composed of gold nanoparticles and pH-sensitive polymer{dodecylthioether end functionalized poly[2-（diethylamino） ethyl methacrylate], poly（DEAEMA）-DDT}. We have shown that this design can produce stable GNP precipitate under weakly basic condition（pH=7.5） and this precipitate can be dispersed in acidic solution（pH=4.0）, due to the 2-（diethylamino） ethyl methacrylate protonated by H＋. The precipitation-dispersion process is reversible and accompanied by distinct color change that are clearly visible to the naked eye. This development may have application in the controlled fabrication of reversible pH-sensitive nanostructures and/or devices.
A novel method of colorimetric assay for determining cis-Pt (cis-diammino-dichloroplatinum Ⅱ) was found by the binding affinities between cis-Pt and DNA based on the change of surface plasmon resonance band of gold nanoparticles. The red-shift of the maximum band of the surface plasmon resonance band of gold nanoparticles increased linearly with the logarithm of the cis-Pt concentration from 40 to 2000 nmol/L and the detection limit is 40 nmol/L when the concentration of gold nanoparticles is 4 nmol/L. The colorimetric readout can be visualised with the naked eyes.
