Detection of mercury(ii) based on Hg2+–DNA complexes inducing the aggregation of gold nanoparticles

Abstract

A DNA-Au NP probe for sensing Hg2+ using the formation of DNA-Hg2+ complexes through thymidine (T)-Hg2+ -T coordination to control the negative charge density of the DNA strands-thereby varying their structures-adsorbed onto Au NPs.