Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles from Au(I) Ions That Shuttle To Solidify: Application on the Sensor Array Design

Metal-mediated interlocking rings won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The metal-directed interlocking rings in macromolecular systems (e.g., proteins) may be similar to the form of Maxwell’s electromagnetic waves; the metal ions may shuttle among the rings in the special environment. To verify this hypothesis, we designed a general approach to synthesize the multicolored gold nanoparticles (GNPs) mediated by Au(I)-directed interlocking rings in proteins. The Au(I) ions shuttled among these interlocking rings in the strong alkaline solution. Through the rapid nucleation method, the multicolored GNPs of different morphology and sizes were synthesized in the multiple honeycombed templates. On the basis of the “three-color” principle of Thomas Young, we extracted the red, green, and blue (RGB) alterations of GNPs to fabricate a visual sensor array for protein discrimination. The fingerprints (ΔRGB) were obtained from the target proteins and fed into computer programs. The proposed sensing platform was also applied to detect lysozyme in human tears with satisfactory results. Importantly, we forecasted that lysozyme could be the effective drug for curing dacryocystitis and nasolacrimal duct obstruction diseases.