Claims
- 1. A composition, comprising:
a silane-coated metal oxide nanoparticle, wherein said metal oxide has a generic formula MexOy, wherein Me is a metal, 1≦x≦2 and 1≦y≦3, and wherein said nanoparticle is capable of light emission.
- 2. The composition of claim 1, wherein said nanoparticle is capable of fluorescent light emission.
- 3. The composition of claim 1, wherein said nanoparticle is capable of phosphorescent light emission.
- 4. The composition of claim 1, wherein the diameter of said nanoparticle is between 10 nm and 100 nm.
- 5. The composition of claim 4, wherein the diameter of said nanoparticle is between 10 nm and 200 nm.
- 6. The composition of claim 5, wherein the diameter of said nanoparticle is between 10 nm and 100 nm.
- 7. The composition of claim 6, wherein the diameter of said nanoparticle is between 20 nm and 50 nm.
- 8. The composition of claim 1, wherein Me is a rare earth element.
- 9. The composition of claim 8, wherein said rare earth element is a lanthanide.
- 10. The composition of claim 9, wherein said lanthanide an element selected from the group consisting of Eu, Ce, Nd, Sm, Tb, Dy, Gd, Ho, and Tm.
- 11. The composition of claim 10, wherein said lanthanide is Eu and said metal oxide is Eu2O3.
- 12. The composition of claim 10, wherein said lanthanide is Tb and said metal oxide is Tb2O3.
- 13. The composition of claim 1, wherein x=2 and y=3.
- 14. The composition of claim 1, wherein said metal oxide is selected from the group consisting of Cr2O3, Y2O3, Fe2O3, and Fe3O4.
- 15. The composition of claim 1, wherein said metal oxide is selected from the group consisting of SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, and ZrO2, and wherein said nanoparticle further comprises Eu2O3 or Eu3+.
- 16. The composition of claim 1, wherein said metal oxide nanoparticle comprises a metal oxide and a rare earth element dopant.
- 17. The composition of claim 16, wherein said metal oxide is selected from the group consisting of Y2O3, ZrO2, ZnO, CuO, Cu2O3, Gd2O3, Pr2O3, and La2O3, and said rare earth element dopant is a lanthanide selected from the group consisting of Eu, Ce, Nd, Sm, Tb, Dy, Gd, Ho, and Th.
- 18. The composition of claim 1, wherein said silane has generic formula Si(OH)n(O(CH2)pCH3)m((CH2)qR), wherein 0≦n≦3; 0≦m≦3; 0≦p≦3; 0≦q≦10, n+m=3, and wherein R═H, halogen, OH, COOH, CHO, NH2, PO4, COOR′, OR′ and R′ is an alkyl or aryl moiety, or R═SR′ and R′ is H or a protecting group.
- 19. The composition of claim 1, further comprising a protein molecule covalently bound to said silane.
- 20. The composition of claim 19, wherein said protein is an antibody.
- 21. The composition of claim 1, further comprising a nucleic acid molecule covalently bound to said silane.
- 22. The composition of claim 1, further comprising a lipid molecule covalently bound to said silane.
- 23. The composition of claim 1, further comprising a carbohydrate molecule covalently bound to said silane.
- 24. An improved assay for detecting the presence of an analyte in a sample, said assay comprising contacting a sample suspected of containing said analyte with a labeled composition under conditions in which said analyte specifically binds said labeled composition, and detecting the presence of said label, the improvement comprising: using the composition of claim 19, claim 20, claim 21, claim 22, or claim 23 as said labeled composition.
- 25. The assay of claim 24, wherein said assay is a direct assay.
- 26. The assay of claim 24, wherein said assay is a competition assay.
- 27. A method for coating a metal oxide nanoparticle with a silane, comprising: preparing a solution of said metal oxide nanoparticle and said silane, and irradiating said solution with microwave radiation.
- 28. The method of claim 27, wherein said metal oxide is Eu2O3.
- 29. The method of claim 28, wherein said silane is 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane.
- 30. The method of claim 27, wherein said metal oxide is Tb2O3.
- 31. The method of claim 30, wherein said silane is 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane.
- 32. An improved method for labeling a molecule, said method comprising reacting said molecule with a label, wherein said label has a reactive chemical group capable of reacting with said molecule, the improvement comprising: using the composition of claim 18 as said label.
- 33. The method of claim 32, wherein said molecule is a protein molecule.
- 34. The method of claim 33, wherein said protein is an antibody.
- 35. The method of claim 32, wherein said molecule is a nucleic acid molecule.
- 36. The method of claim 32, wherein said molecule is a lipid molecule.
- 37. The method of claim 32, wherein said molecule is a carbohydrate molecule.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/365,845, filed Mar. 19, 2002, which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
[0002] This invention was made with government support under 5P42ES04699 awarded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and under DBI-0102662 awarded by the National Science Foundation. The government has certain rights in the invention.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60365845 |
Mar 2002 |
US |