3D sub-nanometer analysis of glucose in an aqueous solution by cryo-atom probe tomography

Abstract Atom Probe Tomography (APT) is currently a well-established technique to analyse the composition of solid materials including metals, semiconductors and ceramics with up to near-atomic resolution. Using an aqueous glucose solution, we now extended the technique to frozen solutions. While th...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: T. M. Schwarz, C. A. Dietrich, J. Ott, E. M. Weikum, R. Lawitzki, H. Solodenko, E. Hadjixenophontos, B. Gault, J. Kästner, G. Schmitz, P. Stender
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/1cedc00257d9484babbfad9cc50fda17
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract Atom Probe Tomography (APT) is currently a well-established technique to analyse the composition of solid materials including metals, semiconductors and ceramics with up to near-atomic resolution. Using an aqueous glucose solution, we now extended the technique to frozen solutions. While the mass signals of the common glucose fragments C x H y and C x O y H z overlap with (H2O) n H from water, we achieved stoichiometrically correct values via signal deconvolution. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to investigate the stability of the detected pyranose fragments. This paper demonstrates APT’s capabilities to achieve sub-nanometre resolution in tracing whole glucose molecules in a frozen solution by using cryogenic workflows. We use a solution of defined concentration to investigate the chemical resolution capabilities as a step toward the measurement of biological molecules. Due to the evaporation of nearly intact glucose molecules, their position within the measured 3D volume of the solution can be determined with sub-nanometre resolution. Our analyses take analytical techniques to a new level, since chemical characterization methods for cryogenically-frozen solutions or biological materials are limited.