Method of creating a nanopore-terminated probe for single-molecule enantiomer discrimination.

Abstract

Nanopores are increasingly utilized as tools for single-molecule detection in biotechnology. Many nanopores are fabricated through procedures that require special materials, expensive facilities and experienced operators, which limit their usefulness on a wider scale. We have developed a simple method of fabricating a robust, low-noise nanopore by externally penetrating a nanocavity enclosed in the terminal of a capillary pipet. The nanocavity was shown to have a pore size on the scale of a single molecule, verified by translocation of molecules of known sizes, including double-stranded DNA (2 nm), gold nanoparticles (10 nm), and ring-shaped cyclodextrin (1.5 nm). The small pore size allows entrapment of a single cyclodextrin molecule. The glass nanopore with a trapped cyclodextrin proves useful in single-molecule discrimination of chiral enantiomers.