Single-Molecule Discrimination of Saccharides Using Carbon Nitride Nanopores

Structural complexity brings a huge challenge to the analysis of sugar chains. As a single-molecule sensor, nanopores have the potential to provide fingerprint information on saccharides. Traditionally, direct single-molecule saccharide detection with nanopores is hampered by their small size and weak affinity. Here, a carbon nitride nanopore device is developed to discern two types of trisaccharide molecules (LeA_pN and SLeC_pN) with minor structural differences. The resolution of LeA_pN and SLeC_pN in the mixture reaches 0.98, which has never been achieved in solid-state nanopores so far. Monosaccharide (GlcNAc_pN) and disaccharide (LacNAc_pN) can also be discriminated using this system, indicating that the versatile carbon nitride nanopores possess a monosaccharide-level resolution. This study demonstrates that the carbon nitride nanopores have the potential for conducting structure analysis on single-molecule saccharides.