Tania García-Mendiola

Grafted Azure A modified electrodes as disposable β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide sensors

We report the in situ generation of aryl diazonium cations of Azure A, a redox-active phenothiazine dye, by reaction between the corresponding aromatic aminophenyl group and sodium nitrite in 0.1 M HCl. The subsequent electrochemical reduction of these dye diazonium salts gives rise to conductive electrografted films onto screen-printed carbon (SPC) electrodes. The resulting Azure A films have a very stable and reversible electrochemical response and exhibit potent and persistent electrocatalytic behavior toward NADH oxidation. We have optimized the electrografting conditions in order to obtain SPC modified electrodes with high and stable electrocatalytic response. The kinetic of the reaction between the NADH and the redox active centers in the Azure A film has been characterized using cyclic voltammetry and single step chronoamperometry. The catalytic currents were proportional to the concentration of NADH giving rise to linear calibration plots up to a concentration of 0.5 mM with a detection limit of 0.57±0.03 μM and a sensitivity of 9.48 A mol cm(-2) μM(-1). The precision of chronoamperometric determinations was found to be 2.3% for five replicate determinations of 3.95 μM NADH. The great stability of such modified electrodes makes them ideal for their application in the development of biosensing platforms based on dehydrogenases.

Scaffold electrodes based on thioctic acid-capped gold nanoparticles coordinated Alcohol Dehydrogenase and Azure A films for high performance biosensor.

Nanometric size gold nanoparticles capped with thiotic acid are used to coordinate with the Zn (II) present in the catalytic center of Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH). In combination with the NADH oxidation molecular catalyst Azure A, electrografted onto carbon screen-printed electrodes, they are used as scaffold electrodes for the construction of a very efficient ethanol biosensor. The final biosensing device exhibits a highly efficient ethanol oxidation with low overpotential of -0.25 V besides a very good analytical performance with a detection limit of 0.14±0.01 μM and a stable response for more than one month.

Simple diazonium chemistry to develop specific gene sensing platforms.

A simple strategy for covalent immobilizing DNA sequences, based on the formation of stable diazonized conducting platforms, is described. The electrochemical reduction of 4-nitrobenzenediazonium salt onto screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCE) in aqueous media gives rise to terminal grafted amino groups. The presence of primary aromatic amines allows the formation of diazonium cations capable to react with the amines present at the DNA capture probe. As a comparison a second strategy based on the binding of aminated DNA capture probes to the developed diazonized conducting platforms through a crosslinking agent was also employed. The resulting DNA sensing platforms were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The hybridization event with the complementary sequence was detected using hexaamineruthenium (III) chloride as electrochemical indicator. Finally, they were applied to the analysis of a 145-bp sequence from the human gene MRP3, reaching a detection limit of 210 pg μL(-1).

Dyes as bifunctional markers of DNA hybridization on surfaces and mutation detection.

The interaction of small molecules with DNA has found diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In this work, we propose the use of two different dyes, in particular Azure A and Safranine, as bifunctional markers of on-surface DNA hybridization and potent tools for screening of specific gene mutations directly in real DNA PCR amplicons extracted from blood cells. By combining spectroscopic and electrochemical methods we demonstrate that both dyes can interact with single and double stranded DNA to a different extent, allowing reliable hybridization detection. From these data, we have also elucidated the nature of the interaction. We conclude that the binding mode is fundamentally intercalative with an electrostatic component. The dye fluorescence allows their use as nucleic acid stains for the detection of on-surfaces DNA hybridization. Its redox activity is exploited in the development of selective electrochemical DNA biosensors.

Electrochemically driven phenothiazine modification of carbon nanodots

Carbon nanodots (CNDs) with enriched periphery carboxylic groups were synthesized using the low-cost starting material glucose. The obtained CNDs were assembled onto Au electrodes following one of two strategies: covalent bonding, using cystamine as a cross-linker, or by drop-casting. The immobilized CNDs were covalently modified with the phenothiazine Azure A via electron transfer chemistry; in particular via reactions with aryl diazonium salts. The reaction mechanism for the diazonium functionalization of CNDs was investigated. Spectroelectrochemistry experiments confirmed that electrografting, rather than adsorption, governs the functionalization of CNDs with Azure A. Finally, the application of these CNDs as electrocatalysts for the oxidation of hydrazine was demonstrated.

Metallacarboranes on the road to anticancer therapies: cellular uptake, DNA interaction and biological evaluation of cobaltabisdicarbollide ([COSAN]-)

After uptake by U87 MG and A375 cancer cells, cobaltabisdicarbollide [COSAN]- distributes between membrane and nucleus and presents no relevant cytotoxicity against both cell lines even for long incubation times. The cytotoxicity of Na[COSAN] was also tested towards one normal cell line, the V79 fibroblasts, in order to ascertain the noncytotoxic profile of the compound. As the cells nucleus contains DNA, the interaction between [COSAN]- and double-stranded calf thymus DNA (CT-dsDNA) has been investigated. There is a strong interaction between both molecules forming a nanohybrid CT-dsDNA-[COSAN] biomaterial, which was fully characterized. Moreover, Na[COSAN] shows characteristic redox peaks ascribed to the oxidation/reduction of Co3+/2+ at a formal potential of -1.444 V and it can be accumulated at a surface-immobilized DNA layer of glassy carbon electrodes. The equilibrium surface-binding constants (Kox /Kred ), which confirm that [COSAN]- interacts with DNA by an intercalative or electrostatic mode, depending on the ionic strength of the solution, were estimated. In addition, high binding affinity of Na[COSAN] to proteins was observed by 11 B{1 H} NMR and confirmed in vivo. Finally, biodistribution studies of [COSAN]- in normal mice were run. After administration, Na[COSAN] was distributed into many organs but mainly accumulated in the reticuloendothelial system (RES), including liver and spleen. After 1 h, the formation of aggregates by plasma protein interaction plays a role in the biodistribution profile; the aggregates accumulate mostly in the lungs. Na[COSAN], which displays low toxicity and high uptake by relevant cancer cells accumulating boron within the nucleus, could act as a suitable compound for further developments as boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) agents.