ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONALIZED DNA ADSORPTION ON AU(111) USING ELECTRON-SPECTROSCOPY

In this paper, a reproducible method for depositing and immobilizing b iomolecules of interest on a supporting substrate for biological scann ing tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studi es is discussed. Adaptations of the thiol-gold chemistry introduced by Nuzzo and Allara (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1983,105, 4481) are investigated as deposition methods for adsorbing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecu les onto a Au(111) surface. The technique of Auger electron spectrosco py (AES) was utilized for these investigations to determine the amount of adsorption. These results demonstrate that thiol-gold chemistry ca n be employed for attachment of DNA to gold and illustrate that electr on spectroscopy can be used to verify and quantify biomolecule deposit ion.