Fluorescent detection of copper(II) based on DNA-templated click chemistry and graphene oxide

A novel DNA-templated click chemistry strategy for homogenous fluorescent detection of Cu(2+) has been developed based on click ligation-dependent DNA structure switch and the selective quenching ability of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet. The clickable duplex probe consists of two DNA strands with alkyne and azide group, respectively, and Cu(+)-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction can chemically ligate these two strands. Toehold sequence displacement was consequently exploited to achieve DNA structure transformation bearing fluorescent tag FAM. Cu(2+)-induced chemical ligation caused the probe transfer to hybrid structure with single stranded DNA (ssDNA) tail, while only duplex structure was obtained without Cu(2+). This structural difference can be probed by GO-based fluorescence detection due to the preferential binding of GO to ssDNA. Under the optimum conditions, this sensor can sensitively and specifically detect Cu(2+) with a low detection limit of 58 nM and a linear range of 0.1-10 μM. This new strategy is highly sensitive and selective for Cu(2+) detection because of the great specificity of click chemistry and super-quenching ability of GO. Moreover, with the aid of high efficient DNA templated synthesis, the detection process requires only about half an hour which is much quicker than previous click-chemistry-based Cu(2+) sensors.