(81e) Exploring the Corona Phase at Carbon Nanotube Surfaces - Corona Phase Molecular Recognition’s Role in Nanosensor Development

The Corona Phase Molecule Recognition (CoPhMoRe) technique represents a significant advancement in molecular recognition, enabling the creation of selective interfaces around nanoparticles. This innovation has broadened the application range of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) fluorescent sensors to include diverse analytes, such as hormones, reactive oxygen species, pharmaceuticals, and proteins. These nanosensors exhibit substantial efficacy in complex biological media, maintaining remarkable stability in various in vivo environments spanning both plant and animal systems. This work focuses on highlighting specialized experimental, theoretical, and computational tools essential for examining the corona phase, the molecular layer on the nanoparticle surface that is otherwise challenging to investigate. Experimentally, the Molecular Probe Adsorption (MPA) method is emphasized, which employs a fluorescent probe that becomes quenched upon interaction with the nanoparticle, thus enabling quantitative assessment of the solvent-exposed surface area through probe adsorption. Furthermore, in addressing the inverse problem of linking an analyte's structure to a synthetic corona on the SWNT surface, a theoretical framework capable of predicting the adsorbed configuration of a polymer on the nanotube surface is highlighted, along with other machine learning-based approaches. This work captures a comprehensive picture of the diverse sensing landscape accessible to CoPhMoRe, with an emphasis on the expanding body of work created to enhance the examination of the corona phase and enable the development of novel sensors for both in vivo and in vitro applications.