Amplifying the Sensitivity of Polydiacetylene Sensors: The Dummy Molecule Approach

There is an increasing need for fast and accurate assessment of various health conditions, where polydiacetylenes (PDA), having unique stress-sensitive optical properties, have great potential. When the conjugated backbone of PDA is disturbed by steric repulsion between the receptor-target complexes formed at the PDA surface via specific recognition events, the bandgap of PDA increases and produces color change and fluorescent emission as a dual sensory signal. However, this detection mechanism suggests an intrinsic sensitivity limit of PDA platform because unless adjacent receptors are occupied by target molecules no signal is anticipated. A novel approach to improve the sensitivity and limit of detection of PDA sensors has been developed by preoccupying the surface of PDA liposomes with an optimized amount of artificial target molecules named as dummy molecules. The sensitivity and limit of detection (LOD) showed large improvement by the surface-bound dummy molecules. In addition, the dummy strategy was synergically integrated with another sensitivity enhancing method with a different working mechanism in a PDA sensor for Neomycin detection. When optimized, the LOD of the PDA sensor was improved to 7 nM from 80 nM of the control and the signal intensity increased consistently throughout the entire tested concentration range of the target Neomycin. Finally, the general applicability of the dummy strategy to other target molecules was successfully confirmed by implementing the dummy strategy in a PDA sensor for Surfactin detection.