Z. J. N. Ivrigh, N. Fahimi-Kashani, M. R. Hormozi-Nezhad

Spectrochimica Acta A, 2017, 187, 143-148

There is a growing interest in developing high-performance sensors monitoring fungicides, due to their broad usage and their adverse effects on humans and wildlife. In the present study, a colorimetric probe has been proposed for the detection of prothioconazole based on the aggregation of unmodified silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Under optimized conditions, linear relationships between the concentration of prothioconazole and the absorbance ratio of A₅₀₀/A₃₉₅ were found over the range of 0.01 μg·mL^− 1 to 0.4 μg·mL^− 1 with quantification limit of as low as 1.7 ng·mL^− 1. Furthermore, AgNPs color change from yellow to pink-orange in presence of prothioconazole indicates a highly sensitive naked-eye colorimetric assay for quantifying prothioconazole in real applications. The proposed approach was successfully used for the determination of prothioconazole in wheat flour and paddy water sample.