The authors herein report optimized conditions for ultrasensitive phosphatase-based immunosensors (using redox cycling by a reducing agent) that can be simply prepared and readily applied to microfabricated electrodes. The optimized conditions were applied to the ultrasensitive detection of cardiac troponin I in human serum. The preparation of an immunosensing layer was based on passive adsorption of avidin (in carbonate buffer (pH 9.6)) onto indium-tin oxide (ITO) electrodes. The immunosensing layer allows very low levels of nonspecific binding of proteins. The optimum conditions for the enzymatic reaction were investigated in terms of the type of buffer solution, temperature, and concentration of MgCl(2), and the optimum conditions for antigen-antibody binding were determined in terms of incubation time, temperature, and concentration of phosphatase-conjugated IgG. Very importantly, the antigen-antibody binding at 4 °C is extremely important in obtaining reproducible results. Among the four phosphatase substrates (L-ascorbic acid 2-phosphate (AAP), 4-aminophenyl phosphate, 1-naphthyl phosphate, 4-amino-1-naphthyl phosphate) and four phosphatase products (L-ascorbic acid (AA), 4-aminophenol, 1-naphthol, 4-amino-1-naphthol), AAP and AA meet the requirements most for obtaining easy dissolution and high signal-to-background ratios. More importantly, fast AA electrooxidation at the ITO electrodes does not require modification with any electrocatalyst or electron mediator. Furthermore, tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) as a reducing agent allows fast redox cycling, along with very low anodic currents at the ITO electrodes. Under these optimized conditions, the detection limit of an immunosensor for troponin I obtained without redox cycling of AA by TCEP is ca. 100 fg/mL, and with redox cycling it is ca. 10 fg/mL. A detection limit of 10 fg/mL was also obtained even when an immunosensing layer was simply formed on a micropatterned ITO electrode. From a practical point of view, it is of great importance that ultralow detection limits can be obtained with simply prepared enzyme-based immunosensors.

Signal amplification by enzyme labels in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) is not sufficient for detecting a low number of bacterial pathogens. It is useful to employ approaches that involve multiple signal amplification such as enzymatic amplification plus redox cycling. An advantageous combination of an enzyme product [for fast electrochemical-chemical-chemical (ECC) redox cycling that involves the product] and an enzyme substrate (for slow side reactions and ECC redox cycling that involve the substrate) has been developed to obtain a low detection limit for E. coli O157:H7 in an electrochemical ELISA that employs redox cycling. In our search for an alkaline phosphatase substrate/product couple that is better than the most common couple of 4-aminophenyl phosphate (APP)/4-aminophenol (AP), we compared five couples: APP/AP, hydroquinone diphosphate (HQDP)/hydroquinone (HQ), L-ascorbic acid 2-phosphate/L-ascorbic acid, 4-amino-1-naphthyl phosphate/4-amino-1-naphthol, and 1-naphthyl phosphate/1-naphthol. In particular, we examined signal-to-background ratios in ECC redox cycling using Ru(NH(3))(6)(3+) and tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine as an oxidant and a reductant, respectively. The ECC redox cycling that involves HQ is faster than the cycling that involves AP, whereas the side reactions and ECC redox cycling that involve HQDP are negligible compared to the APP case. These results seem to be due to the fact that the formal potential of HQ is lower than that of AP and that the formal potential of HQDP is higher than that of APP. Enzymatic amplification plus ECC redox cycling based on a HQDP/HQ couple allows us to detect E. coli O157:H7 in a wide range of concentrations from 10(3) to 10(8) colony-forming units/mL.

Point-of-care testing (POCT) of biomarkers in clinical samples is of great importance for rapid and cost-effective diagnosis. However, it is extremely challenging to develop an electrochemical POCT technique retaining both ultrasensitivity and simplicity. We report an interference-free electrochemical lateral-flow immunoassay that enables one-step ultrasensitive detection with serum. The electrochemical-chemical-chemical (ECC) redox cycling combined with an enzymatic reaction of an enzyme label is used to obtain high signal amplification. The ECC redox cycling involving Ru(NH3)6(3+), enzyme product, and tris(3-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) depends on pH, because the formal potentials of an enzyme product and TCEP increase with decreasing pH although that of Ru(NH3)6(3+) is pH-independent. With consideration of the pH dependence of ECC redox cycling, a noble combination of enzyme label, substrate, and product [β-galactosidase, 4-amino-1-naphthyl β-D-galactopyranoside, and 4-amino-1-naphthol, respectively] is introduced to ensure fast and selective ECC redox cycling of the enzyme product along with a low background level. The selective ECC redox cycling at a low applied potential (0.05 V vs. Ag/AgCl) minimizes the interference effect of electroactive species (L-ascorbic acid, acetaminophen, and uric acid) in serum. A detection limit of 0.1 pg mL(-1) for troponin I is obtained only 11 min after serum dropping without the use of an additional solution. Moreover, the lateral-flow immunoassay is applicable to the analysis of real clinical samples.

Two novel alternating p-conjugated copolymers, poly [2,8-(6,6 0 ,12,12 0 -tetraoctyl-6,12-dihydroindeno-[1,2b]fluorenealt-5(1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,5-di(2-thienyl)pyrrole) (P1) and poly [2,8-(6,6 0 ,12,12 0 -tetraoctyl-6,12-dihydroindeno-[1,2b]fluorenealt-5(1-(p-octylphenyl)-2,5-di(2-thienyl)pyrrole) (P2), were synthesized via the Suzuki coupling method and their optoelectronic properties were investigated. The resulting polymers P1 and P2 were completely soluble in various common organic solvents and their weight-average molecular weights (M w ) were 5.66 Â 10 4 (polydispersity: 1.97) and 2.13Â 10 4 (polydispersity: 1.54), respectively. Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells were fabricated in ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer:PC 70 BM(1:5)/TiO x /Al configurations. The BHJ solar cell with P1:PC 70 BM (1:5) has a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.12% (J sc ¼ 3.39 mA/cm 2 , V oc ¼ 0.67 V, FF ¼ 49.31%), measured using AM 1.5 G solar sim-ulator at 100 mW/cm 2 light illumination. We fabricated polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) in ITO/PEDOT:PSS/emitting polymer:polyethylene glycol (PEG)/Ba/Al configurations. The electroluminescence (EL) maxima of the fabricated PLEDs varied from 526 nm to 556 nm depending on the ratio of the polymer to PEG. The turn-on voltages of the PLEDs were in the range of 3-8 V depending on the ratio of the polymer to PEG, and the maximum brightness and luminance efficiency were 2103 cd/m 2 and 0.37 cd/A at 12 V, respectively. V C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: [3169][3170][3171][3172][3173][3174][3175][3176][3177] 2010