Ultrasensitive electrogenerated chemiluminescence biosensor for the determination of mercury ion incorporating G4 PAMAM dendrimer and Hg(II)-specific oligonucleotide

A novel electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of mercury ion was developed on the basis of mercury-specific oligonucleotide (MSO) served as a molecular recognition element and the ruthenium(II) complex (Ru1) as an ECL emitting species. The biosensor was fabricated on a glassy carbon electrode coated with a thin layer of single wall carbon nanotubes, where the ECL probe, NH2-(CH2)6-oligo(ethylene oxide)6-MSO ↔ Dend-Ru1, was covalently attached. The Dend-Ru1 pendant was prepared by covalent coupling Ru1 with the 4th generation polyamidoamine dendrimer (Dend), in which each dendrimer contained 35 Ru1 units so that a large amplification of ECL signal was obtained. Upon binding of Hg2+ to thymine (T) bases of the MSO, the T–Hg–T structure was formed, and the MSO changed from its linear shape to a “hairpin” configuration. Consequently, the Dend-Ru1 approached the electrode surface resulting in the increase of anodic ECL signal in the presence of the ECL coreactant tri-n-propylamine. The reported biosensor showed a high reproducibility and possessed long-term storage stability (92.3% initial ECL recovery over 30 day's storage). An extremely low detection limit of 2.4 pM and a large dynamic range of 7.0 pM to 50 nM Hg2+ were obtained. An apparent binding constant of 1.6 × 109 M−1 between Hg2+ and the MSO was estimated using an ECL based extended Langmuir isotherm approach involving multilayer adsorption. Determination of Hg2+ contents in real water samples was conducted and the data were consistent with the results from cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy.

► A novel electrogenerated chemiluminescence biosensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of Hg2+ was fabricated on a carbon electrode coated with a thin layer of single wall carbon nanotubes and then covalently attached with the probe consisting of a mercury-specific oligonucleotide-polyamidoamine dendrimer carried with the ruthenium(II) complex.
► The each dendrimer contained 35 Ru1 units led to a large amplification of the signal.
► The biosensor showed an extremely low detection limit of 2.4 pM and a dynamic range from 7.0 pM to 50 nM Hg2+.