Gold-nanoparticle based immunoassay on a Digital Versatile Disk for the determination of priority pollutants residues in water

Abstract

The aim of this work is the development of an immunoassay adapted for compact disc technology to determine the priority pollutants residues in natural water. For that, specific antibody will be labeled with gold nanoparticles and the immunoreaction would be detected in one reaction step. As a proof of concept, the immunoassay for the determination of chlorpyrifos will be developed. Different aspects of the immunoassay protocol have to be considered. First, gold nanoparticles of different sizes should be synthesized. Secondly, as particular aims, the following points should be evaluated: - the influence of nanoparticles size on the conjugation efficiency and assay sensitivity - the influence of sample volume on the reproducibility of the signal intensity - the influence of immunoreaction time on the sensitivity and reproducibility of the assay. Finally, the performance of the DVD microimmunoassay method should to be evaluated through the determination of organic pollutants residues in water samples. The immunoassay should achieve the detection limit established in E.U Water Framework Directive.