Claims
- 1. A device for detecting the presence of a compound in a sample, comprising:
(a) a substrate comprising a support with a metallized top surface; (b) a self-assembled monolayer comprising an alkanethiol attached to the metallized top surface of the substrate, the alkanethiol having a functional group that reversibly or irreversibly interacts with the compound; and (c) a liquid crystal disposed on a top surface of the self-assembled monolayer opposite the side of the self-assembled monolayer attached to the metallized top surface of the substrate, the liquid crystal comprising a moiety that interacts with the functional group of the alkanethiol, wherein when the compound is present in a sample that contacts the self-assembled monolayer, the orientation of the liquid crystal disposed on the self-assembled monolayer is altered.
- 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the functional group of the alkanethiol is a carboxylic acid or a metal carboxylate.
- 3. The device of claim 2, wherein the metal carboxylate is a Cu+2 carboxylate.
- 4. The device of claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal is a nematic liquid crystal.
- 5. The device of claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal comprises a nitrile group, and the functional group of the alkanethiol is a carboxylic acid or a metal carboxylate.
- 6. The device of claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal is 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl.
- 7. The device of claim 1, wherein the alkanethiol has the formula HS(CH2)nCO2H and n is an integer selected from the group consisting of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20.
- 8. The device of claim 7, wherein n is 10.
- 9. The device of claim 1, wherein the metallized top surface of the substrate comprises a metal selected from the group consisting of gold and silver.
- 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the metallized top surface comprises gold obliquely deposited at an angle of from about 30° to about 60 to a top surface of the support.
- 11. The device of claim 10, wherein the gold is obliquely deposited at an angle of about 500 to the top surface of the support.
- 12. The device of claim 10, wherein the gold is deposited over a layer of an adhesion promoting material.
- 13. The device of claim 1, wherein the support is a glass plate or a glass slide.
- 14. The device of claim 1, wherein the uniformity of the orientation of the liquid crystal on the self-assembled monolayer increases when the self-assembled monolayer is exposed to the sample and the sample includes the compound.
- 15. The device of claim 1, further comprising a pump for increasing the flow of the sample over the liquid crystal.
- 16. An optical cell, comprising:
(a) the device of claim 1; and (b) a second surface that uniformly aligns the liquid crystal when the liquid crystal contacts the second surface, wherein the second surface contacts a first surface of the liquid crystal which is opposite a second surface of the liquid crystal that contacts the self-assembled monolayer of the device.
- 17. A method for detecting the presence of a compound in a sample, comprising:
(a) contacting a device for detecting the presence of a compound in a sample with the sample, wherein the device for detecting the presence of the compound in a sample comprises:
(i) a substrate comprising a support having a metallized top surface; and (ii) a self-assembled monolayer comprising a first alkanethiol attached to the metallized top surface of the substrate, the alkanethiol comprising an alkanethiol having a functional group that reversibly or irreversibly interacts with the compound; (b) disposing a liquid crystal on a top surface of the self-assembled monolayer of the substrate, the liquid crystal having a moiety that interacts with the functional group of the alkanethiol; and (c) determining whether the orientation of the liquid crystal on the self-assembled monolayer changes after the device contacts the sample.
- 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the liquid crystal is disposed on the top surface of the self-assembled monolayer of the substrate after the device contacts the sample.
- 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the liquid crystal is disposed on the top surface of the self-assembled monolayer before the device contacts the sample.
- 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the functional group of the alkanethiol is a carboxylic acid or a metal carboxylate.
- 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the metal carboxylate is a Cu+2 carboxylate.
- 22. The method of claim 17, wherein the liquid crystal is a nematic liquid crystal.
- 23. The method of claim 17, wherein the liquid crystal comprises a nitrile group, and the functional group of the alkanethiol is a carboxylic acid or a metal carboxylate.
- 24. The method of claim 17, wherein the liquid crystal is 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl.
- 25. The method of claim 17, wherein the alkanethiol has the formula HS(CH2)nCO2H and n is an integer selected from the group consisting of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20.
- 26. The method of claim 25, wherein n is 10.
- 27. The method of claim 17, wherein the metallized top surface of the substrate comprises a metal selected from the group consisting of gold and silver.
- 28. The method of claim 17, wherein the metallized top surface of the substrate comprises gold and the gold is obliquely deposited at an angle of from about 30° to about 60° to a top surface of the support.
- 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the gold is obliquely deposited at an angle of about 50° to the top surface of the support.
- 30. The method of claim 28, wherein the gold is deposited over a layer of an adhesion promoting material.
- 31. The method of claim 17, wherein the support is a glass plate or a glass slide.
- 32. The method of claim 17, wherein the uniformity in the orientation of the liquid crystal disposed on the self-assembled monolayer increases after the device is contacted with the sample when the sample includes the compound.
- 33. The method of claim 17, wherein the compound that the functional group of the alkanethiol interacts with is an amine.
- 34. The method of claim 33, wherein the amine is an alkylamine.
- 35. The method of claim 34, wherein the alkylamine has the formula H2N(CH2)mCH3, wherein m has a value of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10.
- 36. The method of claim 35, wherein the alkylamine is hexylamine.
- 37. The method of claim 33, wherein the amine is a biogenic amine.
- 38. The method of claim 37, wherein the biogenic amine is selected from the group consisting of histamine, putrescine, and cadaverine.
- 39. The method of claim 17, wherein the compound that the functional group of the alkanethiol interacts with is a phosphorus compound.
- 40. The method of claim 39, wherein the phosphorus compound is an organophosphonate.
- 41. The method of claim 40, wherein the organophosphonate is a dialkyl alkylphosphonate.
- 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the dialkyl alkylphosphonate is dimethyl methylphosphonate.
- 43. The method of claim 17, wherein the sample is a gaseous sample or a liquid sample.
- 44. The method of claim 17, wherein the device for detecting the presence of a compound in a sample is a component of an optical cell comprising a second surface that uniformly aligns the liquid crystal when the liquid crystal contacts the second surface.
- 45. A kit for detecting the presence of a compound in a sample, comprising:
(a) a substrate having a support with a metallized top surface; (b) an alkanethiol comprising a functional group that reversibly or irreversibly interacts with the compound; and (c) a liquid crystal having a moiety that interacts with the functional group of the alkanethiol.
- 46. The kit of claim 45, wherein the functional group of the alkanethiol comprises a carboxylic acid or a metal carboxylate functional group.
- 47. A method for manufacturing a device for detecting the presence of a compound in a sample, comprising:
(a) depositing a metal on a surface of a support to form a support with a metallized surface; (b) contacting an alkanethiol with the metallized surface of the support to form a self-assembled monolayer with a bottom surface attached to the metallized top surface of the support and a top surface, wherein the alkanethiol includes a functional group that reversibly or irreversibly interacts with the compound; and (c) depositing a liquid crystal on the top surface of the self-assembled monolayer, wherein the liquid crystal comprises a moiety that interacts with the functional group of the alkanethiol.
- 48. The method of claim 47, wherein the functional group of the alkanethiol is a carboxylic acid.
- 49. The method of claim 48, further comprising contacting the carboxylic acid group of the alkanethiol with a metal salt, wherein a metal carboxylate is formed.
- 50. The method of claim 49, wherein the metal carboxylate is Cu+2 carboxylate.
- 51. The method of claim 47, wherein the liquid crystal comprises a nitrile group, and the functional group of the alkanethiol is a carboxylic acid or a metal carboxylate.
- 52. The method of claim 47, wherein the liquid crystal is 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl.
- 53. The method of claim 47, wherein metal deposited on the support comprises gold and the gold is obliquely deposited on the support at an angle of from about 30° to about 60° to a top surface of the support.
- 54. The method of claim 53, wherein the gold is obliquely deposited on the support at an angle of about 50 to the top surface of the support.
- 55. The method of claim 53, wherein the gold is deposited over a layer of an adhesion promoting material on the surface of the support.
- 56. The method of claim 47, wherein the support comprises a glass plate or a glass slide.
- 57. The method of claim 47, further comprising positioning a second surface above the top surface of the self-assembled monolayer, wherein the second surface uniformly aligns the liquid crystal when the liquid crystal contacts the second surface.
- 58. The method of claim 57, wherein the second surface is a second support comprising a metallized surface having a second self-assembled monolayer comprising a second alkanethiol, wherein the second alkanethiol is different from the alkanethiol having the functional group that interacts with the compound.
- 59. The method of claim 47, further comprising contacting a first region of the self-assembled monolayer with a first metal salt to produce a first region with a first metal complex and contacting a second region of the self-assembled monolayer with a second metal salt different from that of the first metal salt to produce a second region of the self-assembled monolayer with a second metal complex that is distinct from the first region of the self-assembled monolayer.
- 60. A device for detecting the presence of a compound in a sample, comprising:
(a) a surface including functional groups, wherein the functional groups are bonded to a metal forming a metal complex; and (b) a liquid crystal deposited over the surface, the liquid crystal including a moiety that reversibly binds to the metal of the metal complex such that at least a portion of the liquid crystal is bound to the metal complex; wherein the metal complex is capable of reversibly or irreversibly binding a portion of the compound to be detected, such that when the compound is present in the sample, the portion of the compound will interact with the metal complex and displace at least some of the liquid crystal that was bound to the metal complex.
- 61. The device of claim 60, wherein the metal complex is a Cu+2 complex.
- 62. The device of claim 60, wherein the moiety of the liquid crystal is a nitrile group.
- 63. The device of claim 60, wherein the surface including functional groups comprises a semiconductor-based material and a self-assembled monolayer formed from alkanethiols bearing the functional groups.
- 64. The device of claim 63, wherein the semiconductor-based material is gallium arsenide.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/275,752, filed Mar. 14, 2001, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein.
GOVERNMENT RIGHTS
[0002] This invention was made with United States government support awarded by the following agency: NAVY N00014-99-1-0250. The United States has certain rights in this invention.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60275752 |
Mar 2001 |
US |