Exiqon - LNA for microRNA research - AQ-Link™ Technology

Home

Order

Contact

FAQ

AQ-Link™ Technology

The AQ-Link™ technology is based on a photochemical method for covalent immobilisation of functional groups and biomolecules. The anthraquinone (AQ) molecule is immobilised onto all surfaces containing -CHx- groups e.g. polymeric substrates as well as silanised glass, upon irradiation with soft UV-light (290-400 nm).

AQ-Link™ technology - overview:

Broad applicability - compatible with different formats e.g. microplates, PCR tubes, polymeric slides, silanised glass slides, petri dishes, magnetic beads etc
Low reagent consumption
Compatibility with aqueous solutions
Useful for covalent immobilisation of biomolecules using a 1- or 2-step immobilisation strategy
Useful for immobilisation of functional groups
Immobilisation of oligonucleotides, PCR products, peptides, proteins etc.
Can render polymer surfaces more hydrophilic
Compatible with ELISA techniques
Compatible with ﬂuorescent dyes
AQ-Link™ phosphoramidite available for convenient introduction of AQ into oligonucleotides

Biomolecules can generally be immobilised using two different approaches (see ﬁgure above). In a one-step immobilisation process, the biomolecules are attached to the AQ-molecule before UV light immobilisation. In a two-step immobilisation process, an AQ-reagent consisting of AQ, a linker and a functional group is initially immobilised using soft UV light, followed by immobilisation of the biomolecule of interest.

The AQ-Link™ technology forms the basis of the Immobilizer™/BioCoat™ Assay Plates product series of microplates, available from Nunc A/S and BD Biosciences, respectively.

The breadth of applicability of the chemistry is illustrated in the accompanying table below. The ability to mix and match the various ligands and solid supports utilized with AQ-Link™ provides unique opportunities to design application-specific surfaces optimised to provide the best performance for the particular purpose for which they are intended.