Selective enrichment of aminothiols using polysorbate 20-capped gold nanoparticles followed by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence.J Chromatogr A. 2009 Jan 09; 1216(2):288-93.JC
In this article, we report a simple method for selective enrichment of aminothiols using Tween 20-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) prior to capillary electrophoresis coupled with laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF). Compared to citrate-capped AuNPs, Tween 20-capped AuNPs exhibit the ability to disperse in a highly saline solution and selectively extract aminothiols through the formation of Au-S bonds. After extraction and centrifugation, 1mM thioglycollic acid (TGA) was utilized to remove aminothiols that attached to the NP surfaces. After a solution of 8.0 mL aminothiols were extracted using 2x AuNPs (200 microL), the extracted aminothiols derivatized with o-phthalaldehyde at pH 12.0 were detected by CE-LIF. As a result, the limits of detection at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 for homocysteine (HCys), glutathione (GSH), and gamma-glutamycysteine (Glu-cys) are 4013.2, 79.8, and 382.8 pM, respectively. The use of this probe provided approximately 11-, 282-, and 21-fold sensitivity improvements for HCys, GSH, and Glu-cys, respectively. A practical analysis of HCys, GSH, and Glu-cys in human urine sample has been accomplished by this present method.