Electrochemically Generated Acid and Its Containment to 100 Micron Reaction Areas for the Production of DNA Microarrays

An addressable electrode array was used for the production of acid at sufficient concentration to allow deprotection of the dimethoxytrityl (DMT) protecting group from an overlaying substrate bound to a porous reaction layer. Containment of the generated acid to an active electrode of 100 micron diameter was achieved by the presence of an organic base. This procedure was then used for the production of a DNA array, in which synthesis was directed by the electrochemical removal of the DMT group during synthesis. The product array was found to have a detection sensitivity to as low as 0.5 pM DNA in a complex background sample.

本研究采用可寻址电极阵列制备浓度足够高的酸，以实现结合于多孔反应层的覆层底物上的二甲氧基三苯甲基（dimethoxytrityl, DMT）保护基脱保护。通过有机碱的作用，可将生成的酸限制在直径100微米的活性电极区域内。随后将该工艺用于制备DNA阵列，其合成过程通过电化学移除DMT保护基来导向。经检测，所得产物阵列在复杂背景样本中对DNA的检测灵敏度低至0.5皮摩尔（pM）。