Chronopotentiometric stripping of DNA at mercury electrodes

✍ Scribed by Emil Paleček; Miroslav Tomschik; Veronika Staňková; Luděk Havran

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 704 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1040-0397
• DOI: 10.1002/elan.1140091305

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Denatured (single‐stranded, ss) and native (double‐stranded, ds) DNAs were studied by constant current chronopotentiometric stripping analysis (CPSA) at a hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE). In agreement with the previous voltammetric studies at neutral pH values ssDNA produced CPS cathodic peak CA (due to reduction of cytosine and adenine) and anodic peak G (due to oxidation of the guanine reduction product) at d__t__/d__E__ against E curves. The same peaks produced by dsDNA were substantially smaller. Differences in heights (areas) of peaks G and CA produced by ss and dsDNAs at partial and full electrode coverage are compared and discussed. Using CPSA a well‐developed and symmetrical peak CA was obtained at low DNA concentrations compared to a poorly measurable inflection produced by differential pulse or linear sweep voltammetries under the same conditions. The CPS peak CA can be used also in adsorptive transfer stripping (AdTS, medium exchange) experiments. In the previous AdTS voltammetric measurements only peak G was exploited while the voltammetric peak CA was poorly defined to be of any use in combination with DNA‐modified electrodes. CPS peaks were measured in the presence and in absence of air. It was shown that in the presence of air peak CA is enhanced while peak G decreased. We compared the CPSA of ssDNA at the mercury and carbon paste electrodes (CPE). The CPS peak G (obtained with HMDE) seems to be the best choice for the electrochemical determination of DNA in highly diluted solution. With 10 min adsorptive preconcentration a detection limit below 20 ng of ssDNA per mL was obtained at HMDE. At CPE the limit of detection (of the same ssDNA) was at least two‐fold higher.