Plasmon Resonance Energy Transfer: Coupling between Chromophore Molecules and Metallic Nanoparticles

Plasmon resonance energy transfer (PRET) from a single metallic nanoparticle to the molecules adsorbed on its surface has attracted more and more attentions in recent years. Here, a molecular beacon (MB)-regulated PRET coupling system composed of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and chromophore molecules has been designed to study the influence of PRET effect on the scattering spectra of GNPs. In this system, the chromophore molecules are tagged to the 5'-end of MB, which can form a hairpin structure and modified on the surface of GNPs by its thiol-labeled 3'-end. Therefore, the distance between GNPs and chromophore molecules can be adjusted through the open and close of the MB loop. From the peak shift, the PRET interactions of different GNPs-chromophore molecules coupling pairs have been calculated by discrete dipole approximation and the fitting results match well with the experimental data. Therefore, the proposed system has been successfully applied for the analysis of PRET situation between various metallic nanoparticles and chromophore molecules, and provides a useful tool for the potential application in screening the PRET-based nanoplasmonic sensors.