Since the last two decades, protein conjugated fluorescent gold nanoclusters (NCs) owe much attention in the field of medical and nanobiotechnology due to their excellent photo stability characteristics. In this paper, we reported stable, nontoxic and red fluorescent emission BSA-Au NCs for selective detection of L-dopamine (DA) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The evolution was probed by various instrumental techniques such as UV-vis spectroscopy, High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The synthesised BSA-Au NCs were showing 4–6 nm with high fluorescent ~8% Quantum yield (QY). The fluorescence intensity of BSA-Au NCs was quenched upon the addition of various concentrations of DA via an electron transfer mechanism. The decrease in BSA-Au NCs fluorescence intensity made it possible to determine DA in PBS buffer and the spiked DA in CSF in the linear range from 0 to 10 nM with the limit of detection (LOD) 0.622 and 0.830 nM respectively. Best of our knowledge, as-prepared BSA-Au NCs will gain possible strategy and good platform for biosensor, drug discovery, and rapid disease diagnosis such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer diseases.

We have generated new heterogeneous catalysts by immobilizing dioxomonoperoxomolybdenum(VI) on amino acid functionalized Merrifield resin, which exhibit excellent activity, stability and selectivity for the oxidation of thioethers and dibenzothiophene (DBT) to the corresponding sulfoxides or sulfones by H 2 O 2 at ambient temperature. The synthetic protocols are high-yielding, halogen-free, environmentally clean and safe, and operationally simple. The catalysts, [MoO 2 (O 2 )(L) 2 ] 2− -MR [L = valine (MRVMo) or alanine (MRAMo) and MR = Merrifield resin] were prepared by reacting H 2 MoO 4 with 30% H 2 O 2 and the respective amino acid functionalized resin, at near neutral pH. The compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, spectral studies (FTIR, Raman, 13 C NMR and 95 Mo NMR, diffuse reflectance UV-Vis and XPS), SEM, EDX, XRD, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and TGA-DTG analysis. The easy recyclability of the catalysts for several catalytic cycles without change in activity and selectivity, their complete chemoselectivity towards the sulfur group of substrates bearing other oxidation prone functional groups, are important "green" attributes of these catalysts. † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: 13 C NMR chemical shifts and thermogravimetric data, N 2 adsorption/desorption isotherms, FTIR spectra, bar diagram for the recyclability of the catalyst, calculation for the efficiency of H 2 O 2 , characterization of sulfoxides and sulfones. See

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Because of their large surface area and conductivity, some inorganic materials have emerged as good candidates for the trace-level detection of pharmaceutical drugs. In the present work, we demonstrate the detection of an anticancer drug (regorafenib, REG) by using an electrochemical sensor based on a nanocomposite material. We synthesized a zirconia-nanoparticle-decorated reduced graphene oxide composite (ZrO2/rGO) using a one-pot hydrothermal method. Reduction of the graphene oxide supports of the Zr2+ ions with hydrazine hydrate helped in preventing the agglomeration of the zirconia nanoparticles and in obtaining an excellent electrocatalytic response of the nanostructure ZrO2/rGO-based electrochemical sensor. Structural and morphological characterization of the nanostructure ZrO2/rGO was performed using various analytical methods. A novel regorafenib (REG) electrochemical sensor was fabricated by immobilizing the as-prepared nanostructure ZrO2/rGO on to a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The resulting ZrO2/rGO/GCE could be used for the rapid and selective determination of REG in the presence of ascorbic acid and uric acid. The ZrO2/rGO/GCE showed a linear response for the REG analysis in the dynamic range 11–343 nM, with a remarkable lower detection limit and limit of quantifications of 17 and 59 nM, respectively. The newly developed sensor was used for the accurate determination of REG in both serum samples and pharmaceutical formulations, with satisfactory results.