title: Method of creating a nanopore-terminated probe for single-molecule enantiomer discrimination.
abstract: Nanopores are increasingly utilized as tools for single-molecule detection in biotechnology. Many nanopores are fabricated through procedures that require special materials, expensive facilities and experienced operators, which limit their usefulness on a wider scale. We have developed a simple method of fabricating a robust, low-noise nanopore by externally penetrating a nanocavity enclosed in the terminal of a capillary pipet. The nanocavity was shown to have a pore size on the scale of a single molecule, verified by translocation of molecules of known sizes, including double-stranded DNA (2 nm), gold nanoparticles (10 nm), and ring-shaped cyclodextrin (1.5 nm). The small pore size allows entrapment of a single cyclodextrin molecule. The glass nanopore with a trapped cyclodextrin proves useful in single-molecule discrimination of chiral enantiomers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Engineering and Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA.
authors.forename: Changlu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Qiulin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Li-Qun
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D047392:beta-Cyclodextrins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D047392:beta-Cyclodextrins; D006046:Gold; D004247:DNA; C031215:betadex