Novel luminescent nanoparticles for DNA detection

Highly luminescent LaF3:Ce3+/Tb3+ nanocrystals were successfully prepared and surface functionalized via Layer-by-Layer technology. These as-prepared nanocrystals are highly resistant to photobleaching and pretty dispersible in aqueous solution. Due to the efficient luminescence quenching of the nanocrystals by nucleic acids, a facile fluorescence quenching method was developed for the detection of trace amount of nucleic acids. Under optimal conditions, the fluorescence intensity was proportional to the DNA concentration over the range of 0.60–25.0 μg mL−1 for calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA) and 0.60–30.0 μg mL−1 for herring sperm DNA (hs-DNA), respectively. The corresponding detection limit is 0.21 μg mL−1 for ct-DNA and 0.31 μg mL−1 for hs-DNA, respectively. The results indicated that the reported method is simple and rapid with wide linear range. Also, the recovery and relative standard deviation of this method are reasonable and satisfactory.