Glutathione-induced release of zeatin from functionalized gold nanovectors

The paper shows our preliminary results on the different spectroscopic behaviour of three types of gold nanoparticles (obtained respectively by chemical synthesis, laser ablation in pure water and laser ablation in a citrate solution) modified with trans-zeatin, a plant growth regulator, in presence of glutathione. The reaction of ligand substitution of the adsorbed zeatin with glutathione is studied through surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and is revealed to occur only when citrate-laser ablated gold nanoparticles are employed, making these particles potentially good candidates as vehicles of zeatin inside plant cells for future agricultural applications.