Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
DNA was used as a scaffold for the binding of gold nanoparticles using a standard chemical technique. A DNA template was designed with amino-modified thymines located every 3.7 nm, which would allow the attachment of the carboxylic acid functionalized gold nanoparticles. The gold particles were covalently bound to the amino groups on the DNA using standard 1-ethyl-3- (3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) chemistry in the presence of a competitor to block excess gold binding sites. The products were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).