We show that single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) decorated with sugar
functionalized poly (propyl ether imine) (PETIM) dendrimer is a very sensitive
platform to quantitatively detect carbohydrate recognizing proteins, namely,
lectins. The changes in electrical conductivity of SWNT in field effect
transistor device due to carbohydrate - protein interactions form the basis of
present study. The mannose sugar attached PETIM dendrimers undergo charge -
transfer interactions with the SWNT. The changes in the conductance of the
dendritic sugar functionalized SWNT after addition of lectins in varying
concentrations were found to follow the Langmuir type isotherm, giving the
concanavalin A (Con A) - mannose affinity constant to be 8.5 x 106 M-1. The
increase in the device conductance observed after adding 10 nM of Con A is same
as after adding 20 \muM of a non - specific lectin peanut agglutinin, showing
the high specificity of the Con A - mannose interactions. The specificity of
sugar-lectin interactions was characterized further by observing significant
shifts in Raman modes of the SWNT.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure