# User:Andrew K Farag/Notebook/Andrewfarag/2013/08/28

Biomaterials Design Lab Main project page
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## Objective

Synthesize two different sets of gold nanoparticles. In one set, Au3+ is reduced by a protein (bovine serum albumin, BSA) and the synthesized nanoparticle is also surrounded and stabilized by BSA. In the second set, Au3+ is reduced by citrate, and the AuNP is stabilized by citrate in solution. The BSA-AuNPs are purple in color and the citrate-AuNPs are more of a burgundy (reddish) color.

## BSA-AuNP

Start by placing all of your materials into a volumetric flask so that you know the exact volumes and exact amounts of what you have added. I will have prepared the initial protein and gold solutions for you (this one time only). In the future, you will be expected to make most of the starting solutions.

This procedure was taken from the following reference and has been used by our previous two Experimental Biological Chemistry groups.

1. Add 1.2mL of the (~2.54mM -note the exact concentration) gold (HAuCl4) solution to a 10mL volumetric flask
2. Add an appropriate amount of BSA solution so that the final concentration of gold is 90X that of BSA
3. Add deionized water up to 10mL
4. Transfer solution to a test tube and cap with aluminum foil
5. Heat in oven at 80C for 3 hours
6. Transfer solution to a plastic falcon tube (with blue cap)

1. Gold solution (HAuCl4·3H2O) 0.0100g in 0.0100mL water → 2.54mM
2. BSA solution 0.0104g BSA (MW = 66776g/mol) in 0.0100mL water → 15.6μM

## citrate-AuNP

This procedure is used by Dr. Miller in her research lab - Allison Alix's notebook and is taken from this reference and can be analyzed according to this reference.

1. Take 50mL of the HAuCl4 solution from the 250mL volumetric flask. Note the concentration
2. Heat this solution to boiling while stirring
3. Add 3mL 1.5mL of 1% (w/v) sodium citrate
4. Boil solution for another 40 minutes
5. Cool to room temperature and measure the volume
6. Determine the final concentration of gold and citrate
• Note: According to Allison, and Madeline will corroborate, we don't need to reflux the solution (which would carry out the reaction in a closed system). We should be able to bring the solution to a boil on the bench top.

1. Gold solution (HAuCl4·3H2O) 0.0245g in 0.2505mL water → 0.249mM
2. Sodium Citrate (Na3C6H5O7·2H2O) 0.1010g in 10.0mL → 1.01%

## Calculations

Beer's Law gives an equation for the absorption of light and the properties of the solution.

$\ A=\epsilon bc$

A is absorbance.
ε is molar absorptivity with units of L mol-1 cm-1.
b is the path length of the sample.
c is the concentration with units of mol L-1.
From the Absorption vs Wave Length Graph, the peak is at a wave length of 518nm and absorbance is 0.612. As the peak is at a wave length less than 520nm, table S-1 from the reference is used.
A450=0.389
A518=0.612
A518/A450=1.57
From table S-1, d/nm=12
d/nm is the diameter of the particle is nm.
ε450=1.09*108 M-1cm-1

To find the concentration, the following equation is used; c=A450450
c=0.389/1.09*108L mol-1 cm-1
c=3.5688*10-9 mol L-1

Matt Hartings Based on your final volume (of the citrate-AuNPs), what do you estimate the final concentration of gold (not gold nano particles) to be?

the initial concentration of gold solution is 2.54 mM in 0.01 mL of water. Considering the final volume of Citrate-AuNP is 26 mL, the concentration of gold is 9.769x10-4mM.