Construction of a regulable chiral recognition platform based on the photothermal effect of popcorn-like gold nanoparticles/bovine serum albumin†

Although the chiral recognition ability of nanomaterials is known to play a crucial role in the chiral discrimination of enantiomers, it remains challenging to precisely regulate the chiral recognition ability predictably and on demand. In this work, a regulable chiral recognition platform is designed based on the photothermal effect of popcorn-like gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)/bovine serum albumin (BSA). First, AuNPs with excellent chiral recognition ability are prepared for the discrimination of tyrosine (Tyr) enantiomers. Subsequently, AuNPs can be combined with BSA through the Au–S bond. The obtained AuNPs/BSA exhibits the opposite chiral recognition ability to AuNPs due to the inherent chirality of BSA. Interestingly, BSA can also be destroyed relying on the photothermal effect of AuNPs and the excitation of near-infrared (NIR) light. Therefore, the resulting AuNPs/BSA/NIR reversibly displays the same chiral recognition ability as AuNPs. A regulable chiral recognition platform is constructed for chiral discrimination of Tyr enantiomers, which can satisfy the purpose of predictable and on-demand regulation of the recognition ability of nanomaterials and might be a potential candidate for detection and therapy in vivo.