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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Synthesis, Cellular Delivery and In vivo Application of Dendrimer-based pH Sensors
Published on: September 10, 2013
A colorimetric strategy based on a water-soluble conjugated polymer for sensing pH-driven conformational conversion
Lihua Wang1, Xingfen Liu, Qing Yang
1Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, PR China.
Abstract:
Using a water-soluble conjugated polymer (CP) as a sensing probe, we developed a rapid colorimetric detection strategy for pH-driven conformational conversion of DNA i-motif structure. Two sensing configurations were designed: one used CP only to detect the conversion between i-motif and random-coiled state of a C-rich single-strand DNA, the other used CP and a complementary single-strand DNA to investigate the conversion of duplex to i-motif equilibrium. All the conversions would lead to color change observed directly with naked eyes within a few minutes. The limitation of detection (LOD) is as low as 40 nM. More importantly, reversible conformational conversions by adjusting the pH of the system could also be detected.
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