Potentiality of an organometallic labelled streptavidin--biotin system in metalloimmunoassay.

Biotin labelled with a cymantrene moiety (cyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl complex) is described for the first time. Because this metallo-biotin retains full recognition for the specific glycoprotein avidin (or streptavidin), the labelled streptavidin-biotin system is proposed for use in a solid-phase competition-type metalloimmunoassay in which bovine serum albumin (BSA) is used as a model of applications. Atomic absorption spectrometry is utilized for the detection of the cymantrene-labelled biotin.