Patent AT-503845-B1 (AT)
Title: Determining the relaxation behavior e.g. relaxation time of micro- or nano-particles, on which target molecules e.g. viruses are bound, comprises aligning the particles in dispersion and/or suspension by electrical and/or magnetic field
Inventor: BRUECKL HUBERT DR
IPC: G01N21/25
Filed: 2007-04-11
Granted: 2008-03-15
Abstract: The method for determining a relaxation behavior e.g. relaxation time of micro- or nano-particles (62), on which target molecules, -molecule sequences, -molecule parts or -organisms specifically or non-specifically are bound, comprises aligning the subjected particles in a dispersion and/or suspension by an electrical and/or magnetic field (61) in a space-direction, transforming the particles into uniformly arranged condition by a first stochastic, statistically unordered, non-directional condition, and determining the behavior and/or the characteristics of the dispersion and/or suspension. The method for determining a relaxation behavior e.g. relaxation time of micro- or nano-particles (62), on which target molecules, -molecule sequences, -molecule parts or -organisms specifically or non-specifically are bound, comprises aligning the subjected particles in a dispersion and/or suspension by an electrical and/or magnetic field (61) in a direction of space, transforming the particles into uniformly arranged condition by a first stochastic, statistically unordered, non-directional condition, and determining the behavior and/or the characteristics of the dispersion and/or suspension in each of the two conditions and/or between these conditions, and the time between the two conditions and then determining the relaxation behavior on the concentration and/or size and/or characteristic of the target molecules, -molecule sequences, -molecule parts or -organisms. The nano-particles have optically anisotropic properties. A linearly, polarized or non-polarized light is irradiated into the suspension and/or dispersion. The passage of the dispersion and/or suspension is connected to a polarization filter in an opto-metric analysis. The light scattered, emitted or reflected from the micro or nano particles is used as measured variable of the optical polarization and/or the optical spectrum in the optometric analysis. The electrical and/or magnetic field is changed in the course of the measurement in its amplitude and/or direction, and the relaxation of the particles is determined and noted by the changed stimulus and/or field with respect to the equilibrium position in time-, frequency- or phase-dependent manner. The stimulus and/or field is held discretely on a certain value or periodically changed. Alignable, light-polarizing nano-particles, organic fluorescence coloring materials, mesomer of liquid crystals, semi-conducting nano-crystals and/or quantum dots e.g. cadmium selenide or zinc sulfide nano-crystals and/or nano-particles of gold or silver are used as the dispersion and/or suspension. Optically anisotropic magnetizable nano-particles alignable by an external magnetic field or from particles having uniform magnetic moment or carbon nano-tubes, which is provided with magnetic components, represents magnetic composite nano-particle and is filled with nuclear covering structure, or oblong and/or elongated particles e.g. nano-tubes with magnetic materials are introduced into the dispersion and/or suspension. The anisotropic nano-particles have crystalline or amorphous spherical or elongated form, which has a size expansion of 2-100 Nm. A liquid is used as fluid dispersion medium for the dispersion and/or suspension and is optically transparent in a wavelength region, which functions for the determination of the optical anisotropy of micro or nano-particle. An independent claim is included for a device for determining the relaxation behavior e.g. relaxation time of micro- or nano-particles.