Last edited Tue, 15 Apr 2025

Explore our best-selling gold conjugation kit

Gold conjugation kits

Covalently link biomolecules to gold with our easy-to-use conjugation kits and high-quality gold conjugated antibodies

Conjugating antibodies or biomolecules to gold can be useful for electron microscopy and lateral flow testing.

Whilst traditional passive conjugation of biomolecules to gold nanoparticles requires extensive optimization to achieve, our gold conjugation kits are quick and easy to use, producing stable conjugates. All our kits come with a protocol for covalently attaching antibodies or biomolecules to a range of nanoparticle sizes.

Benefits of gold conjugated kits from Abcam

Our easy-to-use gold conjugation kits enable the covalent attachment of gold nanoparticles to antibodies, proteins or any other biomolecule with an available amine group, and can be beneficial when passive conjugation of a specific antibody is an issue, or for labeling small molecules. Other benefits include:

• Generate antibody-gold conjugates in 20 minutes
• Proprietary surface coat forms ultra-stable conjugates
• Fully scalable – easy transfer from R&D to manufacturing
• Consistent high quality, excellent batch-to-batch reproducibility
• Different nanoparticle sizes, concentrations and chemistries available

Which conjugation kit is right for me?

To select the ideal gold conjugation kit, you should consider how the nanoparticle's size and the conjugation method will affect your downstream application.

Nanoparticle size

Different nanoparticle sizes are suitable for different applications. Table 1 below shows nanoparticle size suitability for various applications. Kits are available with nanoparticle sizes of 10, 20, 40, and 80 nm.

Table 1

Conjugation method

For thiol-containing biomolecules, use maleimide conjugation kits, which attach via thiol groups present at the end of Fc fragments. Other biomolecules, such as proteins and oligonucleotides, can readily be functionalized with thiols in a site-specific manner. See Figure 2.

Figure 1

^{Conjugation with lysine residues or free amine groups.}

Figure 2

^{Thiol-containing biomolecules, use maleimide conjugation kits.}

Gold conjugated secondary antibodies

We provide high-quality gold nanoparticles (sizes 1.4nm to 40nm) conjugated to secondary antibodies. Our portfolio consists of gold nanoparticles ranging from 1.4nm to 40nm with secondary antibodies against mouse, rabbit, and goat.

To pick your secondary antibody conjugated to gold nanoparticles, filter your results based upon nanoparticle size, species reactivity plus additional options.

How does the antibody or biomolecule bind to gold?

Antibodies or biomolecules attach covalently to a 'conjugation 'friendly' coating  on gold nanoparticles which greatly enhances gold’s stability (the exact makeup of the coat is proprietary).

This coat completely shields the metal surface which prevents direct metal-biomolecule interactions.  The biomolecule attachment is covalent, so it differs from passive adsorption, which can be sensitive to changes in pH.

Depending on your specific kit, the reaction will involve lysine resides, thiols, carboxyl groups or aldehyde groups present on the biomolecules.