Colorimetric and luminescent bifunctional Ru(II) complex-modified gold nano probe for sensing of DNA

A colorimetric and luminescent bifunctional Ru(II) complex-modified gold nano-probe for sensing ctDNA was developed. A new water-soluble Ru(II) complex containing an aromatic α-diimine ligand with an extended π system was found to be emissive at about 588nm in water and the emission intensity of the complex was enhanced about 3.4-fold upon addition of calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) in aqueous buffer with no color changes. The detection limit was 70nM with a 1.2% relative standard deviation (RSD, n=5). The Ru(II) complex chromophore was used to modify 8nm MHA carboxylate-functionalized gold nanoparticles to produce a colorimetric and luminescent bifunctional probe for sensing ctDNA in aqueous buffer at room temperature. The obvious change in visible color and enhancement of emission intensity of the functionalized gold-Ru(II) complex colloids upon addition of ctDNA was due to the electron or energy transfer between Ru(II) chromophore and the Au-NPs. The limit of detection was 1.0nM for ctDNA with a 4.5% RSD (n=5). With such a high sensitivity, the bifunctional Ru(II) complex-modified gold nano-probe will be potentially suitable for the DNA sensing in bioanalytical application.