A cuvette-compatible Zn sensing tool for conventional spectrofluorometers prepared by copolymerization of macrocyclic fluoroionophores on quartz glass surface.

We report here the development of a surface-modified quartz glass sheet, which affords an opportunity for converting conventional spectrofluorometers to ion-selective optochemical sensors by placing it diagonally into a photometric cuvette. Moreover, we describe a generalizable technique, which allows the usage of any polymerizable ionophores for developing multiple-use fluorescent chemosensors of various selectivity. A fluorescent bis(acridino)-crown ether containing allyl groups was photocatalytically copolymerized with a methacrylate-acrylamide-based monomer mixture to obtain an ion-selective sensor membrane layer on the surface of the cuvette-compatible glass sheet.

Beyond Chelation: EDTA Tightly Binds Taq DNA Polymerase, MutT and dUTPase and Directly Inhibits dNTPase Activity.

EDTA is commonly used as an efficient chelator of metal ion enzyme cofactors. It is highly soluble, optically inactive and does not interfere with most chemicals used in standard buffers making EDTA a common choice to generate metal-free conditions for biochemical and biophysical investigations. However, the controversy in the literature on metal-free enzyme activities achieved using EDTA or by other means called our attention to a putative effect of EDTA beyond chelation.