Colorimetric sensing of clenbuterol using gold nanoparticles in the presence of melamine

A highly sensitive method for the detection of trace amount of clenbuterol based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in the presence of melamine was described in this paper. Hydrogen-bonding interaction between clenbuterol and melamine resulted in the aggregation of AuNPs and a consequent color change of AuNPs from wine red to blue. The concentration of clenbuterol could be determined with naked eye or a UV–vis spectrometer. Results showed that the absorption ratio (A670/A520) was liner with the logarithm of clenbuterol concentration in the range of 2.8 × 10−10 to 2.8 × 10−7 M and 2.8 × 10−7 to 1.4 × 10−6 M with linear coefficients of 0.996 and 0.993, respectively. The detection limit was 2.8 × 10−11 M (S/N = 3), which was much lower than most existing methods. The coexisting substances including dl-epinephrine, phenylalamine, tryptohan, alamine, uric acid, glycine, glycerol, glucose, MgCl2, CaCl2 and NaCl did not affect the determination of clenbuterol. The proposed method could be successfully applied to the determination of clenbuterol in human urine.

► A new method has been proposed to realize the visual detection of clenbuterol via hydrogen-bonding interactions between clenbuterol and melamine resulted in the aggregation of gold nanoparticles.
► A detection limit of 2.8 × 10−11 M clenbuterol was obtained.
► The proposed method was used to analyze clenbuterol in human urine.