Intense electrochemiluminescence from an organic microcrystal accelerated H2O2-free luminol system for microRNA detection

Abstract

A kind of organic microcrystal, 9,10-diphenylanthracene microcrystals (DPA MCs), was developed as a novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) coreactant accelerator to efficiently catalyze dissolved O₂ for more reactive oxygen species (ROSs) generation, achieving intense ECL for a H₂O₂-free luminol system. Moreover, based on this ternary ECL system, a signal “off–on” ECL biosensor for microRNA-21 (miRNA-21) detection was constructed combining a sensitive target recycling amplification strategy and an enzyme-mediated recycling strand displacement reaction (RSDR).