A visual detection of hydrogen peroxide on the basis of Fenton reaction with gold nanoparticles

Nowadays, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has attracted more and more attentions in biochemical fields owing to its important role in biological systems. In this contribution, we propose a novel assay for the detection of H2O2 based on the cleavage of ssDNA on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). It was known that AuNPs could be stable in the presence of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) which prevents the salt-induced aggregation of AuNPs in solution owing to the electrostatic repulsion. However, hydroxyl radical (HO) generated from Fenton reaction could cleave the ssDNA and induce the aggregation of AuNPs. Therefore, color change from red to blue owing to the plasmon resonance absorption (PRA) of AuNPs can be observed by the naked eyes and enhancement of plasmon resonance light scattering could be measured with a common spectrofluorometer. The values of A650/A520 of the PRA band were found to be linearly proportional to the concentration of H2O2 in the range of 2.0 × 10−7 to 8.0 × 10−6 mol L−1 with the limit of determination (LOD) being 40 nmol L−1 (S/N = 3), and thus the content of H2O2 in rat encephalon extraction could be successfully detected with the recovery in the range of 98–103%.