Biopolymer-encapsulated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) recognize specific  nitroaromatic molecules via either a wavelength or intensity change of near infrared photoluminescence.  A class of peptides from the bombolitin family not previously identified for nitroaromatic recognition allows the carbon nanotube around which they are encapsulated to report changes in their conformation, forming a 'chaperone  sensor.'  Analyte identification is afforded by spectroscopically differentiable changes  of eight (n,m) SWNT species which generates a unique spectral fingerprint.  An  oligonucleotide d(AT)15 enables high selectivity for trinitrotoluene to the exclusion of  other nitroaromatics.  These interactions are probed for the first time at the single  molecule level, as stochastic adsorption and desorption events are optically reported  by the SWNT.  A novel dual-channel single-molecule imaging microscope is  demonstrated to image quantized spectral shifts in real-time, resulting in the first single-molecule stochastic detection of solvatochromic events.

Single-molecule optical detection of nitroaromatic
compounds by carbon nanotubes

240th National Meeting (2010)

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