Abstract
In this work, the stability of DNA functionalized gold nanoparticles was examined in relation to their size, temperature, as well as the presence of mono- and bivalent ions. Furthermore, we report on the stabilizing effect of an additional post-functionalization with mercaptoalkanes, optionally bearing triethylene glycol (TEG) units. Although such so-called backfilling molecules are commonly used for planar gold surfaces, they have rarely been reported in combination with DNA-functionalized nanoparticles. Our results show that, conform the DLVO theory, smaller citrate-capped gold nanoparticles were more stable towards higher concentrations of salt. Citrate nanoparticles of 30 nm in size were only stable in sodium chloride concentrations up to ~0.05 M and up to 45 °C. The stability of these uncoated nanoparticles was even lower when bivalent salts were used (i.e. <2 × 10−4 M). Immobilization of DNA on these nanoparticles, on the other hand, improved the stability in salt solutions with at least one order of magnitude. The additional use of backfilling molecules stabilized the gold nanoparticles even further, without negatively affecting the DNA hybridization efficiency. DNA functionalization also had a positive impact on the thermal stability of the nanoparticles. Unfortunately, this beneficial effect was not observed after a subsequent backfilling step.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant of the Belgian Federal Service of Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment (Grant number S-6167). We would like to thank J. Geypen, O. Richard, and H. Bender of IMEC for their work related to the TEM analyses, Dr. F. Degreyse and K. Coorevits of the Laboratory for Soil and Water Pollution (University of Leuven, Belgium) for their help with the ICP-OES measurements, Dr. P. Wattiau and the NEXT colleagues of IMEC for the many fruitful discussions.
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Stakenborg, T., Peeters, S., Reekmans, G. et al. Increasing the stability of DNA-functionalized gold nanoparticles using mercaptoalkanes. J Nanopart Res 10 (Suppl 1), 143–152 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-008-9425-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-008-9425-9