Highly sensitive nanomechanical assay for the stress transmission of carbon chain

Here, we report the first quantitative experimental study into the molecular basis of the transmission of mechanical signal that originates from biochemical reaction focusing on the length of carbon chain. We designed an experiment by using n-alkanethiols with a same carboxyl group and different chain lengths (n = 1, 5, 10 and 15) to immobilize a same receptor molecule on the gold surface of a microcantilever, and detected the nanomechanical response of biochemical reaction. The sensitivity of the microcantilever was found to be greatly influenced by the chain length of linker that is between the receptor molecule and the microcantilever surface. The efficiency of stress transmission increases significantly with decreasing length of carbon chain. At the same time, we develop a label-free microcantilever sensor for highly sensitive detection of Glycyrrhizic acid (GL). The detection limit of the microcantilever sensor for GL is found to be as low as 20 pg/mL for the shortest linker (n = 1), which is 500 times lower than the longest linker (n = 15) and 50 times lower than that of the corresponding icELISA. These findings will provide new insights into the fundamental mechanisms of stress transmission, which may be exploited for biochemical sensor and nanoactuation applications.