T. Thu-Trang Ho, et al. Carbohydrate Polymers, 2021, 251, 116998.
4-(beta-D-Galactosido)-D-glucose (lactose) can be used to prepare a novel lactose/alginate (Lac/Alg) composite which can reduce gold ions to AuNPs in situ by ionic gelation mechanism.Lactose plays a crucial role as a reducing agent.AuNPs@Lac/ Alg dispersion can be used as an effective probe for the highly selective detection of Fe3+ ions.
The preparation procedure is as follows:
Preparation of Blank Lac/Alg Nanocomposite
The Lac/Alg nanocomposite was prepared using the ionotropic gelation method with Alg/Ca2+ gelispheres and lactose molecules. First, calcium acetate solution (14.36 mL, 6.5 mg/mL) was added to sodium alginate solution (40 mL, 7 mg/mL) while stirring at 1200 rpm for 1 hour. After equilibrating overnight, the Alg/Ca2+ gelispheres were centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes and washed with distilled water to remove impurities. Then, lactose solution (16.06 mL, 1.5 mg/mL) was mixed with the Alg/Ca2+ gelispheres and stirred for another hour at the same speed. The resulting Lac/Alg gel was ultrasonicated for 30 minutes and left to stabilize overnight. The mixture was centrifuged again at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes and washed with water to obtain the pure blank Lac/Alg nanocomposite, which was used as a standard sample.
In Situ Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles on Lac/Alg Nanocomposite
Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were synthesized on the Lac/Alg nanocomposite by adding an aqueous solution of AuCl3 (2.05 mg/mL) to the Lac/Alg gel solution (8 mL, 1.0 g/mL). The mixture was heated to facilitate the reduction process, indicated by a color change and monitored using UV-vis spectroscopy between 200-800 nm. To purify the AuNPs@Lac/Alg nanocomposite, the mixture was centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes and washed with distilled water to remove impurities and unconverted metal ions. Finally, the composite was dried in an oven at 90°C overnight and stored for further use.