Method and apparatus for conducting electrochemiluminescence measurements
First Claim
1. A method of conducting an assay by measuring the luminescence emitted by en electrochemiluminescent moiety in a solution and being especially adapted for the assay of a biological material comprising the steps of(a) cleaning and/or conditioning a working electrode by applying an initializing voltage waveform to the working electrode in the presence of one or more initializing solutions to obtain a specific surface condition on said working electrode;
- (b) maintaining the specific surface condition of the working electrode by applying a preoperative voltage waveform to the working electrode until the initiation of the measurement step (d); and
(c) measuring the electrochemiluminescence emitted by said electrochemiluminescent moiety by(i) activating the electrochemiluminescent moiety in solution by applying an electrochemiluminescence-inducing voltage waveform to the working electrode in the presence of the moiety and(ii) measuring the luminescence emitted by the electrochemiluminescent moiety.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for conducting electrochemiluminescence (ECL) measurements which control the initial conditions relating to the surface state of a triggering working electrode by reproducibly creating and maintaining a favorable surface condition so as to enhance the precision and detection limit of the measurements. Assays are performed with ECL detection in a flow-through cell environment and the precision and detection limit are enhanced by alternating initialization and measurement steps.
-
Citations
31 Claims
-
1. A method of conducting an assay by measuring the luminescence emitted by en electrochemiluminescent moiety in a solution and being especially adapted for the assay of a biological material comprising the steps of
(a) cleaning and/or conditioning a working electrode by applying an initializing voltage waveform to the working electrode in the presence of one or more initializing solutions to obtain a specific surface condition on said working electrode; -
(b) maintaining the specific surface condition of the working electrode by applying a preoperative voltage waveform to the working electrode until the initiation of the measurement step (d); and (c) measuring the electrochemiluminescence emitted by said electrochemiluminescent moiety by (i) activating the electrochemiluminescent moiety in solution by applying an electrochemiluminescence-inducing voltage waveform to the working electrode in the presence of the moiety and (ii) measuring the luminescence emitted by the electrochemiluminescent moiety. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. An apparatus for conducting an assay by measuring the luminescence emitted by an electrochemiluminescent moiety and being especially adapted for the assay of a biological material, comprising
(a) cell means for receiving a solution containing an electrochemiluminescent moiety, (b) working electrode means operatively associated with said cell means and adapted for operative exposure to said solution, (c) counterelectrode means adapted for operative exposure to said solution, (d) means for obtaining a specific surface condition on said working electrode means by applying an initializing voltage waveform to said working electrode means comprising a source of an initializing voltage waveform, (e) means for maintaining said specific surface condition by applying a preoperative voltage waveform to said working electrode means comprising a source of a preoperative voltage waveform and (f) means for activating electrochemiluminescent moiety in the cell means by applying an electrochemiluminescence-inducing voltage waveform to said working electrode means comprising a source of an electrochemiluminescence-inducing voltage waveform, said means recited in (d), (e) and (f) comprises voltage control means constructed for operative connection to a voltage source and to said working electrode means, and (g) means for measuring the luminescence emitted by said electrochemiluminescent moiety.
Specification