A molecular ruler based on plasmon coupling of single gold and silver nanoparticles

Molecular rulers based on Foerster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) that report conformational changes and intramolecular distances of single biomolecules have helped to understand important biological processes. However, these rulers suffer from low and fluctuating signal intensities from single dyes and limited observation time due to photobleaching. The plasmon resonance in noble metal particles has been suggested as an alternative probe to overcome the limitations of organic fluorophores and the coupling of plasmons in nearby particles has been exploited to detect particle aggregation by a distinct color change in bulk experiments. Here we demonstrate that plasmon coupling can be used to monitor distances between single pairs of gold and silver nanoparticles. We use this effect to follow the directed assembly of gold and silver nanoparticle dimers in real time and to study the time dynamics of single DNA hybridization events. These ''plasmon rulers'' allowed us to continuously monitor separations of up to 70 nm for more than 3000 seconds. Single molecule in vitro studies of biological processes previously inaccessible with fluorescence based molecular rulers are enabled with plasmon rulers with extended time and distance range.