A colorimetric strategy based on a water-soluble conjugated polymer for sensing pH-driven conformational conversion of DNA i-motif structure

Using a water-soluble conjugated polymer (CP) as a sensing probe, we developed a rapid colorimetric detection strategy for pH-driven conformational conversion of DNA i-motif structure. Two sensing configurations were designed: one used CP only to detect the conversion between i-motif and random-coiled state of a C-rich single-strand DNA, the other used CP and a complementary single-strand DNA to investigate the conversion of duplex to i-motif equilibrium. All the conversions would lead to color change observed directly with naked eyes within a few minutes. The limitation of detection (LOD) is as low as 40 nM. More importantly, reversible conformational conversions by adjusting the pH of the system could also be detected.