Glutathione decorated gold-magnetic nanoparticles: efficient and recyclable catalyst for biotechnological and pharmaceutical applications.

Nowadays, since the core-shell gold-magnetite nanoparticles include the saturation magnetization (iron oxide) and plasmon surface (gold shell) properties, they have been considered in biological and biomedicine research areas. In the present work, multifunctional glutathione decorated gold-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (GSH-AuMNPs) were successfully synthesized and fully characterized. From the absorption peak at 525, the formation of the core-shell GSH-AuMNPs was confirmed. Although the saturation magnetization value was slightly decreased during the formation process, they easily were recovered through magnetic decantation. The biocompatibility of the synthesized NPs was approved by the cytotoxicity researches. Furthermore, the GSH-AuMNPs indicated a good catalytic activity for the catalytic reduction of 2-nitrophenol by sodium borohydride and reused for six consecutive cycles without a significant decrease in its activity. Overall, this study introduced a unique structure with high catalytic activity, which could provide a useful platform for the biomedical, analytical, catalytic applications and wastewater treatment.