Functionalized xenon as a biosensor

The detection of biological molecules and their interactions is a significa nt component of modern biomedical research. In current biosensor technologi es, simultaneous detection is limited to a small number of analytes by the spectral overlap of their signals. We have developed an NMR-based xenon bio sensor that capitalizes on the enhanced signal-to-noise, spectral simplicit y, and chemical-shift sensitivity of laser-polarized xenon to detect specif ic biomolecules at the level of tens of nanomoles. We present results using xenon "functionalized" by a biotin-modified supramolecular cage to detect biotin-avidin binding. This biosensor methodology can be extended to a mult iplexing assay for multiple analytes.