Electrochemical DNA hybridization detection using the fluorescence quenching label dabcyl

The alternating-current voltammetric (ACV) signal of a dabcyl-labelled target at a thiollinker-probe-SAM modified gold disk electrode was very clear but small due to a fast and irreversible decay of the reduction product. Despite of this, non-complementary DNA-strands could be discriminated and at 15 min hybridization time, trace amounts down to 50 nM target concentration could be detected. Such electrochemical use of optically active labels could open new possibilities for spectroelectrochemical studies of DNA hybridization.