Naked eye detection of glucose in urine using glucose oxidase immobilized gold nanoparticles

Colloidal gold is extensively used for molecular sensing because of the flexibilities it offers in terms of modification of the gold nanoparticle surface with a variety of functional groups using thiol chemistry. We describe a simple assay that allows the visual detection of glucose in aqueous samples and demonstrates its applicability by estimating glucose in urine. To enable the glucose detection, we functionalized the thiol capped gold nanoparticles with glucose oxidase, the enzyme specific to β-D glucose, using carbodiimide chemistry. The visible color change of the GOD-functionalized gold nanoparticles from red to blue on interaction with glucose is the principle applied here for the sensing of urine glucose level. The solution turns blue when the glucose concentration exceeds 100 μg/mL. The approach depicted here seems to be important, particularly in third world countries where high tech diagnostics aids are inaccessible to the bulk of the population.