Spectroscopic and microscopic analyses of rod-shaped gold nanoparticles interacting with single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides

The application of rod-shaped gold nanoparticles as probes and carriers in biological systems have recently attracted great interest. UV-vis spectroscopy, circular dichroism, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to study optical and structural properties of rod-shaped gold nanoparticles when interacting with DNA oligomers in phosphate sodium salt buffer. The morphological transformation process of rod-shaped gold nanoparticles resulting from the interaction with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) showed the role of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in nanostructures as the main interacting agent. The obtained results confirmed that the CTAB coat of rod-shaped gold nanoparticles have powerful positive charges for conjugations with surface negative charges of phosphate groups on ssDNA oligomers. The CTAB also inhibit the formation of covalent sulphide bonds between the gold core of rod-shaped nanoparticles and alkanethiol oligonucleotides. The authors found that when the nanorods were exposed to ssDNA oligonucleotides, the gold nanorods changed their shapes and sizes, and exposed some microscopic malformations which could be used in the development of colorimetric assays of nucleic acids.