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Visual Cocaine Detection with Gold Nanoparticles and Rationally Engineered Aptamer Structures
Author(s) -
Zhang Juan,
Wang Lihua,
Pan Dun,
Song Shiping,
Boey Freddy Y. C.,
Zhang Hua,
Fan Chunhai
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.200800057
Subject(s) - aptamer , colloidal gold , surface plasmon resonance , nanotechnology , nanoparticle , materials science , dna , small molecule , molecule , drug detection , dna origami , combinatorial chemistry , chemistry , biophysics , chromatography , nanostructure , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , biology , organic chemistry
A novel bioassay strategy is designed to detect small‐molecule targets such as cocaine, potassium, and adenosine, based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and engineered DNA aptamers. In this design, an aptamer is engineered to be two pieces of random, coil‐like single‐stranded DNA, which reassembles into the intact aptamer tertiary structure in the presence of the specific target. AuNPs can effectively differentiate between these two states via their characteristic surface‐plasmon resonance‐based color change. Using this method, cocaine in the low‐micromolar range is selectively detected within minutes. This strategy is also shown to be generic and applicable to the detection of several other small‐molecule targets.