Synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticle S-ovalbumin protein conjugates by in situ conjugation process

Pure gold and silver nanoparticle (NP) generation and their conjugation with protein S-ovalbumin using in situ conjugation process have been reported. The in situ conjugation involves nanosecond pulse laser ablation of pure metal target in the protein S-ovalbumin solution. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV–Visible absorption results show decrease in mean NP size along with narrow particle size distribution on ablation in S-ovalbumin solution as compared to ablation in water for both Au and Ag NPs. Also, the NP size reduction was found to be dependent on the concentration of S-ovalbumin. For AuNPs, spherical NPs of mean size 4 nm with particle size distribution 2–6 nm were obtained at 300 nM S-ovalbumin concentration. Further, it has been observed that the resultant in situ-conjugated colloid gold and silver NP solutions were quite stable even in the presence of NaCl at physiological salt concentration (0.15 M). On post-laser irradiation (532 nm, 15 mJ) for 20 min, 9 nm red shift in surface plasmon resonance peak (SPR), along with increased broadening towards longer wavelength, was observed in the AuNPs–S-ovalbumin sample. Further increase in the time of irradiation showed shift in AuNPs–S-ovalbumin SPR towards lower wavelength. On laser irradiation (532 nm, 15 mJ) for 20 min, no significant change was observed in the line shape of the plasmon absorption band of the AgNPs–S-ovalbumin conjugate. FTIR spectra revealed that S-ovalbumin peptide backbone and secondary structure remain unchanged on laser irradiation during in situ conjugation process. Thus, integrity of S-ovalbumin does not get affected, and no degradation of S-ovalbumin takes place on laser-induced in situ conjugation. Raman results confirm that both Au and Ag NPs interact with S-ovalbumin via thiol-bearing cysteine residues of the disulfide bond.