Rapid and Efficient Identification of Bacteria Using Gold‐Nanoparticle–Poly(<i>para</i>‐phenyleneethynylene) Constructs

Microbiological intelligence: Simple constructs of hydrophobically functionalized gold nanoarticles and a conjugated polymer (poly(para-phenyleneethynylene, PPE) are able to identify three different strains of E. coli in minutes. The negatively charged bacteria replace the negatively charged conjugated polymers from the positively charged gold nanoparticles (see scheme), differentially restoring the polymer fluorescence. Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.wiley-vch.de/contents/jc_2002/2008/z703369_s.pdf or from the author. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.