Recent advances in fluorescent and colorimetric conjugated polymer-based biosensors

Abstract

Conjugated polymers recently have drawn much attention as an emerging sensory material due to their meritorious signal amplification, convenient optical detection, readily tunable properties, and easy fabrication. We review the molecular design principles of sensory conjugated polymer recognition events, which can trigger conformational change of the conjugated polymer, induce intermolecular aggregation, or change the distance between the conjugated polymer as an energy donor and the reporter dye molecule as an energy acceptor. These recognition/detection mechanisms result in mainly three types of measurable signal generation: turn on or turn off fluorescence, or change in either visible color or fluorescence emission color of the conjugated polymer. In this article, we highlight recent advances in fluorescent and colorimetric conjugated polymer-based biosensors.

An Analytical Task: a Miniaturized and Portable µConductometer as a Tool for Detection of Pesticides

“…Simple biosensors are of great development and would be considered as analytical tools in 21 st century, which could be used for both diagnostic and environmental monitoring purposes (Bidmanova et al, 2010;Cagnin et al, 2009;Caruana & Howorka, 2010;Ferreira et al, 2009;Gawel et al, 2010;Kurzawa & Morris, 2010;Lee et al, 2010;Libertino et al, 2009;Murthy et al, 2010;Nayak et al, 2009;Ronkainen et al, 2010;Roy & Gao, 2009;Scarano et al, 2010;Vikesland & Wigginton, 2010;Yoo & Lee, 2010). The main advantage of these tools is their rapidity.…”

Three‐dimensional Arrangement of Short DNA Oligonucleotides at Surfaces via the Synthesis of DNA‐branched Polyacrylamide Brushes by SI‐ATRP

“…We propose that a co-operative refractive index change between i) the binding of the complementary DNA to the surface and ii) conformational changes and reorganization of the 17.9 nm thick DNA-polymer brush upon hybridization might explain the ten-fold enhanced sensitivity and lower limits of detection recorded whilst the concentration of capture probes in the DNA-polymer brush layer is approximately 4 times lower than that of a 3-4 nm thick DNA monolayer. [25][26][27][28][29] In order to spectroscopically confirm the inclusion of DNA strands into the polymer brushes, gold substrates were analyzed by ATR-FTIR (Figure 2(A)). Bare gold did not produce any significant features in the spectra.…”

Tailoring Conformation-Induced Chromism of Polythiophene Copolymers for Nucleic Acid Assay at Resource Limited Settings

“…13−17 Among biocompatible CPEs, cationic polythiophenes (PT) have been explored for biosensing because of their superior optical and electronic properties. 18,19 Substituted PTs are of further interest because they are chemically and photochemically stable. As described elsewhere, optical transitions of PT are due to the conformational alternations in backbone that increase or reduce the effective conjugation length leading to red-or blueshift, respectively, of UV−vis absorption maximum.…”