Premium
Collective Response from a Cationic Tetrahedral Fluorene for Label‐Free DNA Detection
Author(s) -
Liu B.,
Dan T. T. T.,
Bazan G. C.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.200600821
Subject(s) - ethidium bromide , cationic polymerization , fluorene , förster resonance energy transfer , dna , molecule , fluorescence , materials science , crystallography , biophysics , polymer , chemistry , polymer chemistry , organic chemistry , biochemistry , biology , optics , physics , composite material
A cationic water‐soluble tetrahedral molecule bearing four phenylene‐bis(fluorene) optical units, namely tetrakis[4‐(2‐(9,9,9′,9′‐tetrakis( N , N , N ‐trimethylammoniumhexyl)‐7,2′‐bifluorenyl))‐phenyl]methane hexadecanebromide, was designed and synthesized. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) experiments between the tetrahedral molecule and fluorescein‐labeled double stranded DNA (dsDNA‐Fl) or single stranded DNA (ssDNA‐Fl) were undertaken. Due to its specific shape and spatial registry, the tetrahedral molecule shows improved FRET efficiencies to dsDNA‐Fl as well as improved selectivity between dsDNA and ssDNA, when compared to a cationic conjugated polymer with similar repeat units. 30‐Fold signal amplification for dsDNA/ethidium bromide (EB) and selective response between complementary and non‐complementary DNA indicates that tetrahedral molecules could be useful to amplify the optical response from EB‐based DNA protocols.