The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 13, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 15, 1994
Richard B Thompson, Baltimore, MD (US);
Eric R Jones, Honolulu, HI (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
The present invention is a process and apparatus for metal ion detection. The process of the invention has the steps of (1) disposing, in an analyte medium, a macromolecule suitable for selective complexation with the target metal ion species; (2) disposing, in the analyte medium, an appropriate photoluminescent indicator that will emit in a measurably different manner when bound to the metallomacromolecule complex, compared with its unbound state; (3) exciting the photoluminescent indicator species; and (4) monitoring the emission of the photoluminescent indicator species to detect changes in its emission. The apparatus of the invention has (1) a macromolecule suitable for selective complexation with the target metal ion species disposed in an analyte medium; (2) an appropriate photoluminescent indicator that will emit in a measurably different manner when bound to the metallomacromolecule complex, compared with its unbound state, also disposed in the analyte medium; (3) a source for exciting the photoluminescent indicator species; and (4) a detector for monitoring the emission of the photoluminescent indicator species to detect changes in its emission.