title: Large-scale detection of metals with a small set of fluorescent DNA-like chemosensors.
abstract: An important advantage of pattern-based chemosensor sets is their potential to detect and differentiate a large number of analytes with only few sensors. Here we test this principle at a conceptual limit by analyzing a large set of metal ion analytes covering essentially the entire periodic table, employing fluorescent DNA-like chemosensors on solid support. A tetrameric "oligodeoxyfluoroside" (ODF) library of 6561 members containing metal-binding monomers was screened for strong responders to 57 metal ions in solution. Our results show that a set of 9 chemosensors could successfully discriminate the 57 species, including alkali, alkaline earth, post-transition, transition, and lanthanide metals. As few as 6 ODF chemosensors could detect and differentiate 50 metals at 100 μM; sensitivity for some metals was achieved at midnanomolar ranges. A blind test with 50 metals further confirmed the discriminating power of the ODFs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States.
authors.forename: Lik Hang
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Yuen
authors.forename: Raphael M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Franzini
authors.forename: Samuel S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Eric T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Kool
mesh_terms: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D015394:Molecular Structure
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D019216:Metals, Heavy