Abstract
A method was developed for the determination of mercuric ion Hg(II). It is based on hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Raman signal DNA and streptavidin were self-assembled on gold nanoparticles as a novel signal nanoprobe (AuNP-sDNA). A thymine-mercury(II)-thymine structure was immobilized on magnetic beads (MBs). The HCR makes use of two hairpin probes that are initiated by the trigger DNA to form a stable nicked dsDNA structure (MB-TS-hDNAs). A large number of the binding sites is provided to connect the signal nanoprobe. The stable sandwich structure (MB-TS-hDNA/AuNP-sDNA) was isolated by applying a magnetic field and used in the amplification step. In this way, Hg(II) can be determined sensitively after multiple signal amplification. The SERS signal, measured at 1499 cm−1, increases linearly in the 0.1 pM to 10 nM Hg(II) concentration range, and the limit of detection is 0.08 pM (at an S/N ratio of 3). The method was applied to the detection of Hg(II) in spiked environment water samples, with recoveries ranging from 96 to 119%.
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This work was financially supported by the Fund Project for Shangdong Key R&D Program (2017GGX20121), which are gratefully acknowledged.
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Zhang, R., Lv, S., Gong, Y. et al. Sensitive determination of Hg(II) based on a hybridization chain recycling amplification reaction and surface-enhanced Raman scattering on gold nanoparticles. Microchim Acta 185, 363 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-2907-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-2907-2