Detection of Copper(II) Ions Using Glycine on Hydrazine-Adsorbed Gold Nanoparticles via Raman Spectroscopy.

A facile, selective, and sensitive detection method for the Cu ions in environmental and biological solutions has been newly developed by observing the unique CN stretching peaks at ~2108 cm upon the dissociative adsorption of glycine (GLY) in hydrazine buffer on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The relative abundance of Cu species on AuNPs was identified from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. UV-Vis spectra also indicated that the Au particles aggregated to result in the color change owing to the destabilization induced by the GLY-Cu complex. The CN stretching band at ~2108 cm could be observed to indicate the formation of the CN species from GLY on the hydrazine-covered AuNP surfaces. The other ions of Fe, Fe, Hg, Mg, Mn, Ni, Zn, Cr, Co, Cd, Pb, Ca, NH₄⁺, Na⁺, and K⁺ at high concentrations of 50 µM did not produce such spectral changes. The detection limit based on the CN band for the determination of the Cu ion could be estimated to be as low as 500 nM in distilled water and 1 µM in river water, respectively. We attempted to apply our method to estimate intracellular ion detection in cancer cells for more practical purposes.