“Gold Nanoparticles as Spectroscopic Enhancers for In-vitro Studies of Single Viruses”, Dragnea, B., Chen, C., Kwak, E-S, Stein, B., Kao, C. C., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125(21), 6374-6375 (communication)

Description:

Above is an image of encapsulated gold particles as probes of virus capsid transformations. Functionalized gold particles with diameters between 2.5 and 4.5 nm have been introduced in the inner cavity of an icosahedral, multi-faceted, virus to act as local probes of the virus's reactions. The optical properties of single gold-marked virions are being tested in-vitro with respect to the characteristic plasmon polariton resonance of the gold particle pair entrapped. The dependence of the two-particle surface plasmon spectrum on the inter-particle distance and the strong particle/capsid wall interaction suggest that, in the future, it will be possible to use encapsulated Au particles to track changes in the viral capsid volume in real-time and in a physiological environment.
 

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