Single-Molecule Discrimination of Saccharides Using Carbon Nitride Nanopores

Structural complexity brings a huge challenge to the analysis of sugar chains. As a single-molecule sensor, nanopores have the potential to provide fingerprint information on saccharides. Traditionally, direct single-molecule saccharide detection with nanopores is hampered by their small size and weak affinity. Here, a carbon nitride nanopore device is developed to discern two types of trisaccharide molecules (LeApN and SLeCpN) with minor structural differences. The resolution of LeApN and SLeCpN in the mixture reaches 0.98, which has never been achieved in solid-state nanopores so far. Monosaccharide (GlcNAcpN) and disaccharide (LacNAcpN) can also be discriminated using this system, indicating that the versatile carbon nitride nanopores possess a monosaccharide-level resolution. This study demonstrates that the carbon nitride nanopores have the potential for conducting structure analysis on single-molecule saccharides.