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Aggregation-based determination of mercury(II) using DNA-modified single gold nanoparticle, T-Hg(II)-T interaction, and single-particle ICP-MS

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Abstract

An ultrasensitive assay is described for the detection and determination of Hg2+(aq) in water samples based on single-particle inductively-coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (spICP-MS). In the presence of Hg2+(aq), AuNPs modified with a segment of single-stranded DNA aggregate due to the formation of the well-known thymine (T)-Hg2+-T complex. Single particle (sp) ICP-MS is used quantify the degree of aggregation by the overall decrease in number of detected AuNPs or NP aggregates. Compared with most other Hg2+ assays that use the same principle of aggregation-dispersion with DNA modified AuNPs, this method has a much lower detection limit of (0.031 ng L−1, 155 fM) and a wider (10,000-fold) linear range (up to 1 μg L−1). The method also showed good practical potential because of its minimal interference from the water sample matrix.

Schematic representation of Hg2+ determination by using modified AuNP probes measured by spICP-MS. AuNPs pulses detected in ICP-MS is relative to the aggregation status of AuNPs based on thymine-Hg2+-thymine interaction.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the NSF grant CHE 1709160 (J.X.Z.), UND Applied Research to Address the State’s Critical Needs Initiative program (X.W.) and the NIH grant 5P20GM103442-18 (D.T.P), The authors acknowledge the use of the Edward C. Carlson Imaging and Image Analysis Core Facility which is supported in part by NIH grant 1P20GM113123 and P20GM103442 and also acknowledge use of the North Dakota INBRE Metal Analysis Core Facility, which is supported in part by NIH grant 5P20GM103442-18.

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  1. Yuqian Xing and Juan Han contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, 58202, USA

    Yuqian Xing, Juan Han, Xu Wu, David T. Pierce & Julia Xiaojun Zhao

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  1. Yuqian Xing
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  2. Juan Han
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Correspondence to David T. Pierce or Julia Xiaojun Zhao.

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Xing, Y., Han, J., Wu, X. et al. Aggregation-based determination of mercury(II) using DNA-modified single gold nanoparticle, T-Hg(II)-T interaction, and single-particle ICP-MS. Microchim Acta 187, 56 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-4057-6

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