ß-Cyclodextrin functionalized graphene as a highly conductive and multi-site platform for DNA immobilization and ultrasensitive sensing detection.

A versatile nanocomposite containing ß-cyclodextrin and graphene (CD-GR) was prepared through a simple chemical reduction method. The characterization experiments show that the nanocomposite remains the flake-like morphology of GR, but its solubility and stability in aqueous solution are greatly improved. Then the nanocomposite was modified at glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surface, and was used as a functional matrix for the covalent immobilization of probe DNA using 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine (TCT) as the crosslinker. Due to the synergetic effect of large surface area of GR and rich hydroxyl of CD, the probe density for the developed biosensor was determined to as high as 3.82×10(13) molecules cm(-2). Meanwhile, the biosensor shows high hybridization efficiency and hybridization kinetic. When the biosensor was applied for the impedance-based hybridization test, a wide linear range from 1.0×10(-16) to 1.0×10(-12) M and an ultralow detection limit of 3.4×10(-17) M were achieved. The biosensor also displays excellent stability, selectivity, and reproducibility.

Application of graphene-pyrenebutyric acid nanocomposite as probe oligonucleotide immobilization platform in a DNA biosensor.

A stable and uniform organic-inorganic nanocomposite that consists of graphene (GR) and pyrenebutyric acid (PBA) was obtained by ultrasonication, which was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-vis absorption spectra. The dispersion was dropped onto a gold electrode surface to obtain GR-PBA modified electrode (GR-PBA/Au). Electrochemical behaviors of the modified electrode were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy using [Fe(CN)6](3-/4-) as the electroactive probe. A novel DNA biosensor was constructed based on the covalent coupling of amino modified oligonucleotides with the carboxylic group on PBA. By using methylene blue (MB) as a redox-active hybridization indicator, the biosensor was applied to electrochemically detect the complementary sequence, and the results suggested that the peak currents of MB showed a good linear relationship with the logarithm values of target DNA concentrations in the range from 1.0×10(-15) to 5.0×10(-12) M with a detection limit of 3.8×10(-16) M. The selectivity experiment also showed that the biosensor can well distinguish the target DNA from the non-complementary sequences.

Electrocatalytical oxidation and sensitive determination of acetaminophen on glassy carbon electrode modified with graphene-chitosan composite.

The electrochemical behaviors of acetaminophen (ACOP) on a graphene-chitosan (GR-CS) nanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronocoulometry (CC) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Electrochemical characterization showed that the GR-CS nanocomposite had excellent electrocatalytic activity and surface area effect. As compared with bare GCE, the redox signal of ACOP on GR-CS/GCE was greatly enhanced. The values of electron transfer rate constant (ks), diffusion coefficient (D) and the surface adsorption amount (Γ(*)) of ACOP on GR-CS/GCE were determined to be 0.25s(-1), 3.61×10(-5) cm(2) s(-1) and 1.09×10(-9) mol cm(-2), respectively. Additionally, a 2e(-)/2H(+) electrochemical reaction mechanism of ACOP was deduced based on the acidity experiment. Under the optimized conditions, the ACOP could be quantified in the range from 1.0×10(-6) to 1.0×10(-4) M with a low detection limit of 3.0×10(-7) M based on 3S/N. The interference and recovery experiments further showed that the proposed method is acceptable for the determination of ACOP in real pharmaceutical preparations.