Key Laboratory of Luminescence Analysis and Molecular Sensing (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, People's Republic of China.
Anal Chem. 2023 Mar 7;95(9):4454-4460. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c05029. Epub 2023 Feb 22.
In this work, Cu nanoclusters (Cu NCs) with strong aggregation-induced electrochemiluminescence (AIECL) as emitters were used to construct an ECL biosensor for ultrasensitive detection of microRNA-141 (miR-141). Impressively, the ECL signals enhanced with the increased content of Cu(I) in the aggregative Cu NCs. When the ratio of Cu(I)/Cu(0) in aggregative Cu NCs was 3.2, Cu NCs aggregates showed the highest ECL intensity, in which Cu(I) could enhance the cuprophilic Cu(I)···Cu(I) interaction to form rod-shaped aggregates for restricting nonradiative transitions to obviously improve the ECL response. As a result, the ECL intensity of the aggregative Cu NCs was 3.5 times higher than that of the monodispersed Cu NCs. With the aid of the cascade strand displacement amplification (SDA) strategy, an outstanding ECL biosensor was developed to achieve the ultrasensitive detection of miR-141, whose linear range varied from 10 aM to 1 nM with a detection limit of 1.2 aM. This approach opened an avenue to prepare non-noble metal nanomaterials as robust ECL emitters and provided a new idea for detection of biomolecules for diagnosis of disease.
在这项工作中，使用具有强烈聚集诱导电化学发光（AIECL）的铜纳米簇（Cu NCs）作为发射器，构建了用于超灵敏检测 microRNA-141（miR-141）的电化学发光生物传感器。令人印象深刻的是，随着聚集的 Cu NCs 中 Cu(I)含量的增加，ECL 信号得到增强。当聚集的 Cu NCs 中 Cu(I)/Cu(0)的比例为 3.2 时，Cu NCs 聚集体表现出最高的 ECL 强度，其中 Cu(I)可以增强亲铜的 Cu(I)···Cu(I)相互作用，形成棒状聚集体，从而限制非辐射跃迁，明显提高 ECL 响应。结果，聚集的 Cu NCs 的 ECL 强度比单分散的 Cu NCs 高 3.5 倍。借助级联链置换扩增（SDA）策略，开发了一种出色的电化学发光生物传感器，可实现对 miR-141 的超灵敏检测，其线性范围从 10 aM 到 1 nM，检测限为 1.2 aM。这种方法为制备非贵金属纳米材料作为强大的 ECL 发射器开辟了一条途径，并为用于疾病诊断的生物分子检测提供了新的思路。
