Interaction of morin–cetyltrimethylammonium bromide with nucleic acids and determination of nucleic acids at nanograms per milliliter levels based on the enhancement of preresonance light scattering

Abstract

A new preresonance light scattering (PRLS) assay of nucleic acids is presented. At pH 7.30, the weak PRLS of morin–cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMAB) can be greatly enhanced by the addition of nucleic acids, owing to the interaction between the nucleic acid and morin–CTMAB. After the addition of morin and CTMAB to DNA, the zeta potential of DNA decreases and changes from negative to positive, which is due to the formation of an associate, the aggregation of morin on nucleic acids and the electric neutralization between DNA and the cationic surfactant CTMAB. Mechanism studies showed that the enhanced PRLS comes from the aggregation of morin in the presence of nucleic acids and CTMAB. The enhanced intensity of PRLS is in proportion to the concentration of nucleic acids in the range 7.5 × 10⁻⁹–1.0 × 10⁻⁵ g ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA, 7.5 × 10⁻⁹–1.0 × 10⁻⁶ g ml⁻¹ for salmon sperm DNA and 1.0 × 10⁻⁸–1.0 × 10⁻⁶ g ml⁻¹ for yeast RNA. The detection limits are 3.4, 6.2 and 4.1 ng ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA, salmon sperm DNA and yeast RNA, respectively. Synthetic samples were analyzed satisfactorily.