Early and accurate diagnosis is considered the key issue to prevent the further spread of viruses and facilitate influenza therapy. Herein, we report a colorimetric immunosensor for influenza A virus (IAV) based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified with monoclonal anti-hemagglutinin antibody (mAb). The immunosensor allows for a fast, simple, and selective detection of IAV. In this assay, influenza-specific antibodies are conjugated to AuNPs to create mAb-AuNP probes. Since IAV has multiple recognition sites for probes on the surface, the mAb-AuNP probes can be specifically arranged on the virus surface due to their very specific antigen recognition. In this case, this aggregation of the mAb-AuNP probes produces a red shift in the absorption spectrum due to plasmon coupling between adjacent AuNPs, and it can be detected with the naked eye as a color change from red to purple and quantified with the absorption spectral measurements. The aggregate formation is also confirmed with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Under the optimal conditions, the present immunoassay can sensitively measure H3N2 IAV (A/Brisbane/10/2007) with a detection limit of 7.8 hemagglutination units (HAU). This proposed immunosensor revealed high specificity, accuracy, and good stability. Notably, it is a single-step detection using AuNP probes and UV-vis spectrophotometer for readout, and no additional amplification, e.g., enzymatic, is needed to read the result. This assay depends on an ordered AuNP structure covering the virus surface and can be applied to any virus pathogen by incorporating the appropriate pathogen-specific antibody.

Chemical structures of two-dimensional (2D) nanosheet can effectively control the properties thus guiding their applications. Herein, we demonstrate that carbon nitride nanosheets (CNNS) with tunable chemical structures can be obtained by exfoliating facile accessible bulk carbon nitride (CN) of different polymerization degree. Interestingly, the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) properties of as-prepared CNNS were significantly modulated. As a result, unusual changes for different CNNS in quenching of ECL because of inner filter effect/electron transfer and enhancement of ECL owing to catalytic effect were observed by adding different metal ions. On the basis of this, by using various CNNS, highly selective ECL sensors for rapid detecting multiple metal-ions such as Cu(2+), Ni(2+), and Cd(2+) were successfully developed without any labeling and masking reagents. Multiple competitive mechanisms were further revealed to account for such enhanced selectivity in the proposed ECL sensors. The strategy of preparing CNNS with tunable chemical structures that facilely modulated the optical properties would open a vista to explore 2D carbon-rich materials for developing a wide range of applications such as sensors with enhanced performances.

The development of synthetic nanopores and nanochannels that mimick ion channels in living organisms for biosensing applications has been, and still remains, a great challenge. Although the biological applications of nanopores and nanochannels have achieved considerable development as a result of nanotechnology advancements, there are few reports of a facile way to realize those applications. Herein, a nanochannel-based electrochemical platform was developed for the quantitative detection of biorelated small molecules such as potassium ions (K(+)) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in a facile way. For this purpose, K(+) or ATP G-quadruplex aptamers were covalently assembled onto the inner wall of porous anodic alumina (PAA) nanochannels through a Schiff reaction between -CHO groups in the aptamer and amino groups on the inner wall of the PAA nanochannels under mild reaction conditions. Conformational switching of the aptamers confined in the nanochannels occurs in the presence of the target molecules, resulting in increased steric hindrance in the nanochannels. Changes in steric hindrance in the nanochannels were monitored by the anodic current of indicator molecules transported through the nanochannels. As a result, quantitative detection of K(+) and ATP was realized with a concentration ranging from 0.005 to 1.0 mM for K(+) and 0.05 to 10.0 mM for ATP. The proposed platform displayed significant selectivity, good reproducibility, and universality. Moreover, this platform showed its potential for use in the detection of other aptamer-based analytes, which could promote its development for use in biological detection and clinical diagnosis.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been extensively explored to be used in analytical methods such as electrochemical, colorimetric methods, and so on. However, only a few methods have been reported by using chirality of AuNPs although their chiral assembly has been studied extensively and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is also a simple and sensitive analytical method. In this paper, sensitive CD spectroscopy method has been explored for detection of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a well-known biomarker for oxidative DNA damage, based on DNA-induced chiroplasmonic assemblies of AuNPs. First, 8-OHdG aptamer hybridized with its complementary sequence that modified with AuNPs based on precision matched bases. DNA-modified AuNPs were assembled into AuNPs dimers by 8-OHdG aptamer, which displayed strong chiroptical activity. Subsequently, in the presence of 8-OHdG, the high specific recognition and affinity constants of aptamer and 8-OHdG destroyed the hybrid of aptamer and its complementary sequence; as a result, AuNPs dimers were destroyed and showed low CD signal. The CD intensity was in log-linear correlation with the concentration of 8-OHdG ranging from 0.05 to 2 nM, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9951 and a detection limit of 33 pM (S/N = 3). The method has been successfully applied in a complex matrix such as human serum samples. The recoveries were from 92.5% to 107% and the relative standard derivations were in the range of 4.89% ∼ 7.27%, indicating that the method had good accuracy and high precision. Therefore, these results indicated that the proposed CD method was simple and reliable, which held great potential for clinical examinations.

Circular dichroism spectroscopy has been explored for detection of methyltransferase activity and inhibition based on DNA-induced chiroplasmonic assemblies of gold nanoparticles and endonuclease HpaII. Good accuracy, precision and sensitivity are obtained in complex matrices such as human serum samples, which is significant for clinical diagnosis and drug development.

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In this work, a dual catalyst composed of atomically ordered intermetallic PdZn and Co nanoparticles was synthesized and chemically bonded to nitrogen-doped carbon by simultaneously modulating the lattice spacing of...

Nanomaterials possessing intrinsic enzyme-mimetic activity are becoming an important topic of current research. However, their enzyme-mimetic activity is limited by the particle size of the nanomaterials. In this study, Pd nanoclusters with an average size of 1.4 nm are synthesized by using a metal organic framework, zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), as a matrix via an impregnation-reaction method. By virtue of the confined channels of ZIF-8 and the strong chemical interaction between the Pd nanoclusters and ZIF-8 framework, the Pd nanoclusters show a high dispersity and stability. The obtained Pd@ZIF-8 is proven to have enhanced intrinsic peroxidase-like activity, showing Michaelis−Menten constants (K m ) as high as 0.13 mM for 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine and 14.02 mM for hydrogen peroxide. Colorimetric testing and electron spin resonance spectra reveal that radicals are generated during the catalytic process of peroxidase-like Pd@ZIF-8 toward H 2 O 2 . With the addition of glucose or cholesterol oxidase, the Pd@ZIF-8 can be utilized to construct a highly selective and sensitive fluorescent sensor for glucose and cholesterol, exhibiting a detection limit of 0.10 and 0.092 μΜ, respectively. Additionally, the proposed fluorescent platform exhibits the capability to detect glucose and cholesterol in serum samples with satisfactory recovery, indicating potential application prospects in biochemical analysis.