N-acetyl- L -cysteine modified CuFe2O4@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles as chiral probes for recognition of chiral tyrosine

Highlights: • The synthesis of the magnetic chiral nanomaterial CuFe₂O₄@SiO₂-NALC (NALC = N-acetyl-l-cysteine) was first reported. • The effect intensity of the tyrosine (Tyr) enantiomer is different in the environment of pH = 7 (H₂O). In this manuscript, the bimetallic magnetic nanoparticles CuFe₂O₄ is cheap, magnetic and easy to prepare, and can be separated by an external magnet. • In this manuscript, the bimetallic magnetic nanoparticles CuFe₂O₄ is cheap, magnetic and easy to prepare, and can be separated by an external magnet. -- Abstract: Chiral recognition exhibits the important practical significance. In this paper, the magnetic CuFe₂O₄@SiO₂ was firstly synthesized by co-precipitation. Then, the core-shell chiral nanomaterial CuFe₂O₄@SiO₂-NALC (NALC = N-acetyl-L-cysteine) was futher prepared by reflow in a flask. It is worth mention that the chiral nanomaterials are obtained by simple synthetic methods and using inexpensive materials. Chiral recognition effect of CuFe₂O₄@SiO₂-NALC on L-/D-tyrosine was confirmed by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. CuFe₂O₄@SiO₂-NALC is easy to separate due to the magnetic hull, which has great development prospects of the field of chiral separation.