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Published on: June 13, 2010
Rapid Detection of Copper in Biological Systems Using Click Chemistry
Wenshu Zheng1,2,3, Huiling Li4, Wenwen Chen1,2,5
1Beijing Engineering Research Center for BioNanotechnology and CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for NanoScience and Technology, No. 11 Zhongguancun Beiyitiao, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
Abstract:
A fast (1 min), straightforward but efficient, click chemistry-based system that enables the rapid detection of free copper (Cu) ions in either biological fluids or living cells without tedious pretreatment is provided. Cu can quickly induce the conjugation between graphene oxide (GO) and a fluorescent dye via click reaction. On the basis of the high specificity of bioorthogonal reaction and the effective quenching ability of GO, the assay studied in this paper can respond to Cu ions in less than 1 min with excellent selectivity and sensitivity, which is the fastest sensor for Cu as far as it is known. In addition, the application of this system is verified by performing assays in living cells and untreated urine samples from patients suffering from Wilson's Disease. Such a Cu detection system shows great promises in both fundamental research and routine clinical diagnostics.
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