This project, supported in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, focusses on the synthesis of oligodeoxynucleotides that have specific and stable electrochemical signals when immobilized on an electrode surface. Professor James Q. Chambers and his students at the University of Tennessee will use mercuration and coupling of quinones via phosphoramidite linking agents to impart electroactivity to these oligodeoxynucleotides. These immobilized reagents will exhibit shifts in their electrochemical responses upon exposure to DNA molecules with complementary base sequences making a highly selective and sensitive biosensor for specific DNA molecules. Electrochemical, spectroelectrochemical, quartz crystal microbalance, and impedance spectroscopic measurements will be used to characterize these biosensors. Biosensors that can selectively and sensitively detect target DNA molecules will be constructed and characterized in this work by Professor Chambers and his students at the University of Tennessee. Oligodeoxynucleotides will be modified to become electroactive so that when they complex with target DNA on the surface of an electrode, an electroanalytical current can be detected. These biosensors have extensive potential for application in the analysis of polynucleotides with specific base sequences.
