Label-free gold nanoclusters as quenchable fluorescent probes for sensing olaquindox assisted by glucose oxidase-triggered Fenton reaction

Glucose oxidase (GOx) catalyses oxidation of glucose accompanied with the generation of hydrogen peroxide. With the addition of Fe2+, hydroxyl radical produced by Fenton reaction between hydrogen peroxide and Fe2+ may quench the fluorescence of gold nanoclusters. In this work, a fluorescent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with gold nanoclusters was designed with a straightforward signal output, in which the fluorescence of gold nanoclusters was quenched by GOx-triggered Fenton reaction. Olaquindox was selected as a target analyte. Gold nanoclusters capped with bovine serum albumin and GOx-linked olaquindox conjugates were successfully prepared. Olaquindox in samples directly competed with the GOx-linked olaquindox conjugates for binding immobilized antibody. Consequently, the fluorescence signal increased with the amount of olaquindox. Under optimal conditions, the fluorescent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay exhibited a favorable performance to detect olaquindox in swine feeds, demonstrating a good linear range from 1.0 µg kg−1 to 150 µg kg−1 with a reliable correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.9918); the limit of detection was 0.68 µg kg−1. Average recoveries in spiked samples were 85.3% to 113.5%. The proposed strategy is a promising approach for the detection of olaquindox and other harmful small molecules.