Paracetamol-Mediated Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles and Their Functionalization with Ionic Liquid for the Colorimetric Biosensing of Ascorbic Acid.

Ascorbic acid is a vital biomolecule for human beings. When the body's level of ascorbic acid is abnormal, it can lead to a number of illnesses. Its appropriate concentration is necessary for the oxidation of prostaglandins and cyclic adenosine monophosphate, the production of dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and carnitine, and the expansion and durability of the collagen triple helix in humans. In the present work, silver nanoparticle synthesis was performed through a paracetamol-mediated approach. Different characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffractometry (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), were used to confirm the prepared nanoparticles. Subsequently, the prepared Ag NPs functionalized with an ionic liquid were used as a sensing platform for ascorbic acid in blood serum samples. To achieve the best possible results, the proposed biosensor was optimized with different parameters such as TMB concentration, time, amount of capped nanoparticles (NPs), and pH. The proposed biosensor offers a sensitive and straightforward method for ascorbic acid with a linear range from 2 × 10-9 to 3.22 × 10-7 M, an LOD of 1.3 × 10-8 M, an LOQ of 4.3 × 10-8 M, and an R2 of 0.9996, Moreover, applications of the proposed biosensor were successfully used for the detection of ascorbic acid in samples of human plasma, suggesting that Ag NPs with high peroxidase-like activity, high stability, and facile synthesis exhibited promising applications in biomedical fields.