Single-Molecule Detection in Liquids by Laser-Induced Fluorescence

SMD in liquids, which began as an experimentalist`s challenge, has become a powerful research tool. Ultrasensitive fluorescence detection will have an increasing impact on fields where fluorescence detection and quantification are broadly applied, e.g., analytical chemistry, biology, and medicine. Recent efforts toward the ultraminaturization if analytical instrumentation for increased speed and decreased sample sizes will benefit from the extreme detection sensitivity from picoliter and smaller detection volumes provided by SMD techniques. The ability to monitor fluorescence from a single molecule in solution allows the direct observation of processes at the single molecule level and the measurement of molecular properties that are averaged out in bulk measurements on large ensembles. SMD is a new way of doing analytical chemistry, and new applications will arise. 36 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.