An Overview of the Development and Application of Surface Plasmon Resonance Based Immunosensors for Detection of Small Molecules

Development of high performance analytical methods for identification and quantification of small molecules is an ever increasing global issue in the enhancement of the quality and longevity of human life. SPR based optical immunoassay is one of the promising analytical tools for rapid and real-time analysis of chemical and biological substances in various analytical matrices with enhanced sensitivity and selectivity. In this article, we provide an overview of the state-of-the-art SPR immunoassay for detection of small molecules of biomedical, food, defense and environmental interest with a special emphasis on the recent developments in our laboratory. The combination of SPR with the principle of indirect competitive inhibition as well as other signal enhancement systems (sandwich geometry and gold nanoparticle) in the achievement of greater sensitivity is discussed along with the use of portable instrumentations for multi-analyte and simultaneous detection of small molecules.