Optical encoding with shaped DAM-1 molecular sieve particles.

Abstract

This work introduces a new high-throughput screening particle - a Dallas Amphorous Material No. 1 (DAM-1) molecular sieve particle. In contrast to porous silica microspheres, the 2-8-microm sized DAM-1 molecular sieve particles are available in a variety of shapes and morphologies including spheres, hexagons, rods, gyroids, and discoids. The advantage of using DAM-1 molecular sieve particles is the ability to encode an array by particle shape, which in turn permits the repeated use of luminescent reporter dyes. In this technical note, we demonstrate optical decoding of fluorescein- and Texas Red-modified shaped molecular sieve particles using reflectance and fluorescence microscopies.