Study on Self-Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles Directed by Glutathione with Resonance Light Scattering Technique and Its Analytical Applications

In this paper, it has been demonstrated that gold nanoparticles can self-assemble to form network structure in the presence of glutathione, which results in great enhancement of resonance light scattering (RLS). Results from this RLS experiments confirm that RLS is a sensitive and convenient technique for studying the self-assembly of nanoparticles. The principles of the enhanced RLS of nanoparticle assemblies are discussed, and the mechanism of the interaction between gold nanoparticles and glutathione is investigated. The enhanced RLS of gold nanoparticle assemblies directed by glutathione is also successfully applied to sensitive determination of glutathione. Under the optimal conditions, the calibration curve for glutathione determination is linear in concentration range of 0.01–0.1 μg/ml, and the corresponding detection limit is 4.7 ng/ml (3σ, 15.3 nM).