Deep eutectic solvent-based manganese dioxide nanosheets composites for determination of DNA by a colorimetric method

BACKGROUND: Nucleic acid is the carrier of genetic information and the keymolecule in life science. It is important to establish a simple and feasible method for nucleic acid quantification in complex biological samples. METHODS: Four kinds of hydrogen bond acceptors (choline chloride (ChCl), L-carnitine, tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBAC) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)) were used to synthesize deep eutectic solvents (DESs) with hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP). DESs based manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanosheets composites was synthesized and characterized. DNA concentration was determined by a UVVis spectrometer. The mechanism of DNA-DES/MnO2 colorimetric system was further discussed. RESULTS: The composite composed of DES/MnO2 exhibited excellent oxidase-like activity and could oxidize 3,3’,5,5’ -tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to produce a clear blue change with an absorbance maximum at 652 nm. When DNA is introduced, the DNA can interact with the DES by hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions, thereby inhibiting the color reaction of DES/MnO2 with TMB. After condition optimization, ChCl/HFIP DES in 1:3 molar ratio was used for the colorimetric method of DNA determination. The linear range of DNA was 10–130 µg/mL and exhibited good selectivity. CONCLUSION: A colorimetric method based on DES/MnO2 was developed to quantify the DNA concentration. The proposed method can be successfully used to quantify DNA in bovine serum samples. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13065-023-00922-5.