all patents , patent applications , and references cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety . as defined herein , the term “ molecule ” refers to any desired specific binding member that may be immobilized onto the surface of the substrate . the “ specific binding member ,” as defined herein , means either member of a cognate binding pair . a “ cognate binding pair ,” as defined herein , is any ligand - receptor combination that will specifically bind to one another , generally through non - covalent interactions such as ionic attractions , hydrogen bonding , vanderwaals forces , hydrophobic interactions and the like . exemplary cognate pairs and interactions are well known in the art and include , by way of example and not limitation : immunological interactions between an antibody or fab fragment and its antigen , hapten or epitope ; biochemical interactions between a protein ( e . g . hormone or enzyme ) and its receptor ( for example , avidin or streptavidin and biotin ), or between a carbohydrate and a lectin ; chemical interactions , such as between a metal and a chelating agent ; and nucleic acid base pairing between complementary nucleic acid strands ; a peptide nucleic acid analog which forms a cognate binding pair with nucleic acids or other pnas . thus , a molecule may be a specific binding member selected from the group consisting of antigen and antibody - specific binding pairs , biotin and avidin binding pairs , carbohydrate and lectin bind pairs , complementary nucleotide sequences , complementary peptide sequences , effector and receptor molecules , enzyme cofactor and enzymes , and enzyme inhibitors and enzymes . other specific binding members include , without limitation , dna , rna , polypeptide , antibody , antigen , carbohydrate , protein , peptide , amino acid , carbohydrate , hormone , steroid , vitamin , drug , virus , polysaccharides , lipids , lipopolysaccharides , glycoproteins , lipoproteins , nucleoproteins , oligonucleotides , antibodies , immunoglobulins , albumin , hemoglobin , coagulation factors , peptide and protein hormones , non - peptide hormones , interleukins , interferons , cytokines , peptides comprising a tumor - specific epitope , cells , cell - surface molecules , microorganisms , fragments , portions , components or products of microorganisms , small organic molecules , nucleic acids and oligonucleotides , metabolites of or antibodies to any of the above substances . nucleic acids and oligonucleotides comprise genes , viral rna and dna , bacterial dna , fungal dna , mammalian dna , cdna , mrna , rna and dna fragments , oligonucleotides , synthetic oligonucleotides , modified oligonucleotides , single - stranded and double - stranded nucleic acids , natural and synthetic nucleic acids . preparation of antibody and oligonucleotide specific binding members is well known in the art . the molecules ( m ) have at least one or more nucleophilic groups , e . g ., amino , carboxylate , or hydroxyl , that are capable of linking or reacting with the silylating agents to form a reactive silylated molecule which is useful for modifying the surfaces of substrates . these nucleophilic groups are either already on the molecules or are introduced by known chemical procedures . as defined herein , the term “ substrate ” refers any solid support suitable for immobilizing oligonucleotides and other molecules are known in the art . these include nylon , nitrocelluose , activated agarose , diazotized cellulose , latex particles , plastic , polystyrene , glass and polymer coated surfaces . these solid supports are used in many formats such as membranes , microtiter plates , beads , probes , dipsticks , optical fibers , etc . of particular interest as background to the present invention is the use of glass and nylon surfaces in the preparation of dna microarrays which have been described in recent years ( ramsay , nat . biotechnol ., 16 : 40 - 4 ( 1998 )). the journal nature genetics has published a special supplement describing the utility and limitations of microarrays ( nat . genet ., 21 ( 1 ): 1 - 60 ( 1999 ). typically the use of any solid support requires the presence of a nucleophilic group to react with the silylated molecules of the invention that contain a “ reactive group ” capable of reacting with the nucleophilic group . suitable nucleophilic groups or moieties include hydroxyl , sulfhydryl , and amino groups or any moiety that is capable of coupling with the silyated molecules of the invention . chemical procedures to introduce the nucleophilic or the reactive groups onto solid support are known in the art , they include procedures to activate nylon ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 514 , 785 ), glass ( rodgers et al ., anal . biochem ., 23 - 30 ( 1999 )), agarose ( highsmith et al ., j ., biotechniques 12 : 418 - 23 ( 1992 ) and polystyrene ( gosh et al ., nuc . acid res ., 15 : 5353 - 5372 ( 1987 )). the preferred substrate is glass . the term “ analyte ,” or “ target analyte ”, as used herein , is the substance to be quantitated or detected in the test sample using devices prepared by the method of the present invention . the analyte can be any substance for which there exists a naturally occurring specific binding member ( e . g ., an antibody , polypeptide , dna , rna , cell , virus , etc .) or for which a specific binding member can be prepared , and the analyte can bind to one or more specific binding members in an assay . in one embodiment of the invention , a method is provided for immobilizing a molecule onto a substrate surface , said method comprising the steps of contacting the molecule with an agent so as to form a reactive intermediate , said agent having a formula i : wherein r 1 , r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , c 1 - c 6 alkyl , phenyl , or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; x represents linear or branched c 1 - c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen , nitrogen , or sulfur ; and y represents oxygen or sulfur , with the proviso that at least one of r 1 , r 2 or r 3 represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; and contacting the reactive intermediate with said surface so as to immobilized the molecule onto said surface . in practice , the molecule is contacted with the agent in solution . generally , the molecule is dissolved in a solution and agent is added drop - wise to the molecule solution . suitable , but non - limiting , examples of solvents used in preparing the solution include dmf , dmso , ethanol and solvent mixtures such as dmso / ethanol . the preferred solvent is ethanol . water is preferably excluded from the reaction solvent because water may interfere with the efficient modification of the molecule . however , if water is necessary to increase solubility of the molecule in the solution , the amount of water generally ranges from about 0 . 1 % to about 1 %, usually no greater than 1 %. the amount of molecule to agent generally ranges from about 1 to about 1 . 5 typically from about 1 to about 1 . 1 , preferably from about 1 to about 1 molar equivalents . the reaction may be performed in any suitable temperature . generally , the temperature ranges between about 0 ° c . and about 40 ° c ., preferably from about 20 ° c . to about 25 ° c . the reaction is stirred for a period of time until sufficient amount of molecule and agent reacts to form a reactive intermediate . the reactive intermediate has a structure defined by formula iii . thereafter , the reaction solution containing the reactive intermediate is then concentrated and dissolved in desired solvent to provide a spotting solution which is then applied to the surface of a substrate . the reactive intermediate is applied as a spotting solution . any suitable solvent may be used to prepare the spotting solution . suitable , but non - limiting , examples of solvents used in preparing the spotting solution include dmf , dmso , and ethanol as well as any suitable solvent mixtures such as dmf / pyridine . any suitable concentration of the spotting solution may be prepared , generally the concentration of the spotting solution is about 1 mm . any suitable spotting technique may be used to produce spots . representative techniques include , without limitation , manual spotting , ink - jet technology such as the ones described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 233 , 369 and 5 , 486 , 855 ; array pins or capillary tubes such as the ones described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 567 , 294 and 5 , 527 , 673 ; microspotting robots ( e . g ., available from cartesian ); chipmaker micro - spotting device ( e . g ., as available from telechem interational ). suitable spotting equipment and protocols are commercially available such as the arrayit ® chipmaker 3 spotting device . the spotting technique can be used to produce single spots or a plurality of spots in any suitable discrete pattern or array . in the preferred embodiment , the agent is triethoxysilylisocyanate . the preferred molecule is a nucleic acid . in another embodiment of the invention , a method is provided for immobilizing a molecule onto a substrate surface , said method comprising the steps of contacting si ( ncy ) 4 with an agent so as to form a first reactive intermediate , said agent having a formula ii : wherein r 1 , r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , c 1 - c 6 alkyl , phenyl , or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; x represents linear or branched c 1 - c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen , nitrogen , or sulfur ; wherein y represents oxygen or sulfur ; and z represents a hydroxy or amino group , with the proviso that at least one of r 1 , r 2 or r 3 represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; contacting the first reactive intermediate with a molecule so as to form a second reactive intermediate ; and contacting the second reactive intermediate with said surface so as to immobilized the molecule onto said surface . in this embodiment of the invention , the method provide for a modification of substrate surfaces with branched molecules so as to increase molecule loading on the substrate surface . these branched molecules behave like dendrimers to enhance sensitivity in assay performance . in practice , either si ( nco ) 4 or si ( ncs ) 4 are reacted with a compound of formula ii to form a first reactive intermediate having the formula iv : wherein r 1 , r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , c 1 - c 6 alkyl , phenyl , or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; x represents linear or branched c 1 - c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen , nitrogen , or sulfur ; y represents oxygen or sulfur ; and z represents oxygen or nh , with the proviso that at least one of r 1 , r 2 , or r 3 represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy . generally , si ( nco ) 4 or si ( ncs ) 4 is dissolved in a suitable dry solvent as described above . in practice , ethanol is the preferred solvent . the resulting ethanol solution is contained in a reaction flask and a solution of formula ii compound is added to the reaction flask . the formula ii solution may include any of the dried solvents described above . in practice , ethanol is the preferred solvent . the reaction temperature generally ranges from about 0 ° c . to about 40 ° c ., preferably about 22 ° c . the reaction mixture is allowed to stir from about 1 min to about 60 min , usually about 5 min to about 10 min , until it reaches completion . the molar amount of si ( nco ) 4 or si ( ncs ) 4 to formula ii compound generally ranges from about 3 : 1 to 1 : 1 , preferably about 1 : 1 . thereafter , the molecule is contacted with the first reactive intermediate to form a second reactive intermediate having the formula v : wherein r 1 , r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , c 1 - c 6 alkyl , phenyl , or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; x represents linear or branched c 1 - c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen , nitrogen , or sulfur ; l represents a linking group ; y represents oxygen or sulfur ; and z represents oxygen or nh ; and m represents a molecule , with the proviso that at least one of r 1 , r 2 , or r 3 represent c 1 - c 6 alkoxy . the linking group l may be a nucleophile that is naturally present or chemically added to the molecule such as an amino , sulfhydryl group , hydroxy group , carboxylate group , or any suitable moiety . l may represent — nh , — s —, — o —, or — ooc —. the molecule is contacted with the first reactive intermediate in solution . generally , the molecule is dissolved in a solvent and added dropwise to the reaction flask containing the first reactive intermediate . the molecule is generally mixed in any suitable solvent as described above . the molar amount of molecule to first reactive intermediate generally ranges from about 1 to about 10 typically from about lto about 3 , preferably from about 1 to about 4 . the reaction may be performed in any suitable temperature . generally , the temperature ranges between about 0 ° c . and about 40 ° c ., preferably from about 20 ° c . to about 25 ° c . the reaction is stirred for a period of time until sufficient amount of molecule and first reactive intermediate reacts to form a second reactive intermediate . generally , an excess amount of molecule is used to react with the first reactive intermediate . in practice , typically at least 3 equivalents of molecule to 1 equivalent of first reactive intermediate is used . thereafter , the second reactive intermediate is then applied to the surface of a substrate using techniques described above . in another aspect of this invention , if the ratio of si ( nco ) 4 or si ( ncs ) 4 to formula ii compound is about 1 : 2 equiv ./ equiv ., a first reactive intermediate is formed having the formula vi : wherein r 1 , r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , c 1 - c 6 alkyl , phenyl , or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; x represents linear or branched c 1 - c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen , nitrogen , or sulfur ; y represents oxygen or sulfur ; and z represents oxygen or nh , with the proviso that at least one of r 1 , r 2 , or r 3 represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy . preferably , r 1 , r 2 and r 3 represent methoxy , x represents phenyl , y represents oxygen , and z represents nh . thereafter , the molecule is contacted with the first reactive intermediate of formula vi as described above to produce a second reactive intermediate having the formula vii : wherein r 1 , r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , c 1 - c 6 alkyl , phenyl , or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; l represents a linking group ; x represents linear or branched c 1 - c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen , nitrogen , or sulfur ; y represents oxygen or sulfur ; and z represents oxygen or nh ; and m represents a molecule , with the proviso that at least one of r 1 , r 2 , or r 3 represent c 1 - c 6 alkoxy . the linking group l may be a nucleophile that is naturally present or chemically added to the molecule such as an amino , sulfhydryl group , hydroxy group , carboxylate group , or any suitable moiety . l may represent — nh , — s —, — o —, or — ooc —. generally , an excess amount of molecule is used to react with the first reactive intermediate . in practice , typically at least 3 equivalents of molecule to 1 equivalent of first reactive intermediate is used . thereafter , the second reactive intermediate is then applied to the surface of a substrate using the techniques described above . in another embodiment of the invention , a compound is provided having the formula iii : wherein r 1 , r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , c 1 - c 6 alkyl , phenyl , or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; l represents a linking group ; x represents linear or branched c 1 - c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen , nitrogen , or sulfur ; y represents oxygen or sulfur ; and m represents a molecule , with the proviso that at least one of r 1 , r 2 , or r 3 represent c 1 - c 6 alkoxy . the linking group l may be a nucleophile that is naturally present or chemically added to the molecule such as an amino , sulfhydryl group , hydroxy group , carboxylate group , or any suitable moiety . l may represent — nh , — s —, — o —, or — ooc —. in the preferred embodiment , r 1 , r 2 , and r 3 represent alkoxy , l represents — nh —, x represents propyl , and y represents o . the compound is useful for modifying substrate surfaces with a desired molecule . in another embodiment of the invention , a compound is provided having a formula iv : wherein r 1 , r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , c 1 - c 6 alkyl , phenyl , or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; x represents linear or branched c 1 - c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen , nitrogen , or sulfur ; y represents oxygen or sulfur ; and z represents oxygen or nh , with the proviso that at least one of r 1 , r 2 , or r 3 represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy . in the preferred embodiment , r 1 , r 2 , and r 3 represent ethoxy or methoxy , x represents benzyl , y represents oxygen , and z represents nh . the compound is useful for modifying molecules so that they can be attached to substrate surfaces . in another embodiment of the invention , a compound is provided having a formula v : wherein r 1 , r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , c 1 - c 6 alkyl , phenyl , or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ; l represents a linking group ; x represents linear or branched c 1 - c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 - c 6 alkyl and c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen , nitrogen , or sulfur ; y represents oxygen or sulfur ; and z represents oxygen or nh ; and m represents a molecule , with the proviso that at least one of r 1 , r 2 , or r 3 represent c 1 - c 6 alkoxy . the linking group l may be a nucleophile that is naturally present or chemically added to the molecule such as an amino , sulfhydryl group , hydroxy group , carboxylate group , or any suitable moiety . l may represent — nh , — s —, — o —, or — ooc —. in the preferred embodiment , r 1 , r 2 , and r 3 represent methoxy or ethoxy , x represents 3 - or 4 - phenyl , y represents oxygen , and z represents nh . the compound is useful for modifying molecules so that they can be attached to substrate surfaces . in another embodiment of the invention , a device is provided for the detection of target analytes in a sample . the device comprises a surface having an immobilized molecule as a specific binding member to the target analyte , wherein said surface is prepared by any of the above methods . the preferred surface is a glass surface . the surface may have one or more different specific binding members attached thereto in an array to allow for the detection of different portions of a target analyte or multiple different types of target analytes . in another embodiment of the invention , a kit is provided . the kit may comprise one or more containers containing any of the silylating agents mentioned above with an optional substrate , and a set of instructions . the invention is demonstrated further by the following illustrative examples . the examples are offered by way of illustration and are not intended to limit the invention in any manner . in these examples all percentages are by weight if for solids and by volume if for liquids , and all temperatures are in degrees celsius unless otherwise noted . this example provides a general procedure for the covalent attachment of a molecule , e . g ., 3 ′ or 5 ′- silylated dna , directly to surfaces such as pre - cleaned glass surface via single silylated molecule or dendritic silylated molecule procedure . as shown in fig1 , a method is shown for attaching a 3 ′- amino or 5 ′- amino dna molecule to a pre - cleaned glass surface . 3 ′- amine linked dna is synthesized by following standard protocol for dna synthesis on dna synthesizer . the 3 ′ amine modified dna synthesized on the solid support was attached through succinyl linker to the solid support . after synthesis , dna attached to the solid support was released by using aqueous ammonia , resulting in the generation of a dna strand containing a free amine at the 3 ′- end . the crude material was purified on hplc , using triethyl ammonium acetate ( teaa ) buffer and acetonitrile . the dimethoxytrityl ( dmt ) group was removed on the column itself using triflouroacetic acid . after purification , 1 equivalents of 3 ′- amine linked dna was subsequently treated with 1 . 2 equivalents of triethoxysilyl isocyanate ( gelest , morrisville , pa ., usa ) for 1 - 3 h in 10 % dmso in ethanol at room temperature . traces of water that remained in the dna following evaporation did not effect the reaction . after 3 h , the reaction mixture was evaporated to dryness and spotted directly on pre - cleaned glass surface using an arrayer ( affymetrix , gms 417 arrayer with 500 micron pins for spotting ). typically , 1 mm silylated dna was used to array a glass surface and the arrayed substrate is then kept in the chamber for 4 h - 5 h . thereafter , the slides were incubated in nanopure water for 10 minutes to remove the unbound dna , washed with ethanol , and dried in the dessicator . after drying , these plates were tested with target dna samples . in a preliminary study using linear silyl oligonucleotides prepared by the above procedure to spot a glass surface , it was observed that spotting in dmso or dmf medisurprisingly controlled spot branching or diffusion . see fig2 . the spot morphology was clean and discrete . if the substrate was overhydrated in the dessicator chamber prepared by filing a portion of a chamber with water and storing the glass slides on a rack above the water level overnight , the slides become overhydrated . undesirable branching of the spot was observed on overhydrated slides , even when dmso or dmf solvent is used . see fig3 . when water was used as the sole solvent for spotting , the resultant spots were branched out and spread to other spots . see fig4 . without being bound to any theory of operation , an aqueous spotting solution and / or the presence of water in a overhydrated substrate results in the polymerization of silyl oligonucleotides and thus interfered with the modification of the surface with the desired molecule . thus , dried polar aprotic solvents such as dmf , dmso and dried polar solvents like ethanol , isopropanol and mixture of solvents like dmf / pyridine were found to be suitable solvents for arraying the silyl modified oligonucleotides . the presence of water (& gt ; 1 %) in the spotting solution or over hydration of slidesresults in spot branching after arraying . spot branching is undesirable because it may lead to false positive results in binding studies . as shown in fig5 , a method is shown for attaching multiple 5 ′ or 3 ′ amino dna molecules to a glass surface . to 1 equivalent of silyl amine in dry acetonitrile , 1 . 2 equivalents of tetraisocyante is added dropwise and the reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature for 10 minutes to form compound 3 . 5 ′ or 3 ′- amine linked oligonucleotide is synthesized and deprotected using aqueous ammonia conditions by conventional procedures . after hplc purification , 5 ′ or 3 ′- amine free oligonucleotide is treated with compound 3 in a 1 : 10 dmso / ethanol ( v / v ) mixture . after 10 minutes , the modified oligonucleotides are evaporated under vacuum and spotted on unmodified glass surface in dmso or dmf media . detection of factor v target sequence using a dna array chip this example illustrates that dna plates prepared as described in example 1 are useful for sandwich hybridization assays for detection of nucleic acid targets . gold colloids ( 13 nm diameter ) were prepared by reduction of haucl 4 with citrate as described in frens , nature phys . sci ., 241 , 20 ( 1973 ) and grabar , anal . chem ., 67 , 735 ( 1995 ). briefly , all glassware was cleaned in aqua regia ( 3 parts hcl , 1 part hno 3 ), rinsed with nanopure h 2 o , then oven dried prior to use . haucl 4 and sodium citrate were purchased from aldrich chemical company . aqueous haucl 4 ( 1 mm , 500 ml ) was brought to reflux while stirring . then , 38 . 8 mm sodium citrate ( 50 ml ) was added quickly . the solution color changed from pale yellow to burgundy , and refluxing was continued for 15 min . after cooling to room temperature , the red solution was filtered through a micron separations inc . 1 micron filter . au colloids were characterized by uv - vis spectroscopy using a hewlett packard 8452a diode array spectrophotometer and by transmission electron microscopy ( tem ) using a hitachi 8100 transmission electron microscope . gold particles with diameters of 13 nm will produce a visible color change when aggregated with target and probe oligonucleotide sequences in the 10 - 35 nucleotide range . oligonucleotides were synthesized on a 1 micromole scale using a milligene expedite dna synthesizer in single column mode using phosphoramidite chemistry . eckstein , f . ( ed .) oligonucleotides and analogues : a practical approach ( irl press , oxford , 1991 ). all solutions were purchased from milligene ( dna synthesis grade ). average coupling efficiency varied from 98 to 99 . 8 %, and the final dimethoxytrityl ( dmt ) protecting group was cleaved from the oligonucleotides to do final epiendrosterone coupling on the synthesizer itself . capture strands were synthesized with dmt on procedure and purified on hplc system . reverse phase hplc was performed with using agilent 1100 series system equipped with tosch biosep amberchrom md - g cg - 300s column ( 10 × 118 mm , 35 μm particle size ) using 0 . 03 m et 3 nh + oac − buffer ( teaa ), ph 7 , with a 1 %/ min . gradient of 95 % ch 3 cn / 5 % teaa . the flow rate was 1 ml / min . with uv detection at 260 nm . the final dmt attached was deprotected on hplc column itself using 1 - 3 % trifluoro acetic acid and teaa buffer . after collection and evaporation of the buffer contained the dmt cleaved oligonucleotides , was then evaporated to near dryness . the amount of oligonucleotide was determined by absorbance at 260 nm , and final purity assessed by reverse phase hplc . the same protocol was used for epiendrosterone linked - oligonucleotides for probe preparation and no dmt removal needed 10 . probes used in the example : ( 3 ′- act tta aca ata g - a 20 - epi - 5 ′ and 3 ′- t taa cac tcg c - a20 - epi - 5 ′) ( seq id no : 1 ) was attached in the following fashion . these probes were designed for m13 target sequence detection . a 1 ml solution of the gold colloids ( 15 nm ) in water was mixed with excess ( 3 . 68 : m ) 5 ′ epi - endrosterone linked - oligonucleotide ( 33 and 31 bases in length ) in water , and the mixture was allowed to stand for 12 - 24 hours at room temperature . then , 100 μl of a 0 . 1 m sodium hydrogen phosphate buffer , ph 7 . 0 , and 100 μl of 1 . 0 m nacl were premixed and added . after 10 minutes , 10 μl of 1 % aqueous nan 3 were added , and the mixture was allowed to stand for an additional 20 hours then increased the salt concentration to 0 . 3 . after standing 4 h at 0 . 3 m nacl again increased to 1m nacl and kept further 16 h . this “ aging ” step was designed to increase the surface coverage by the epi disulfide linked - oligonucleotides and to displace oligonucleotide bases from the gold surface . somewhat cleaner , better defined red spots in subsequent assays were obtained if the solution was frozen in a dry - ice bath after the 40 - hour incubation and then thawed at room temperature . either way , the solution was next centrifuged at 14 , 000 rpm in an eppendorf centrifuge 5414 for about 15 minutes to give a very pale pink supernatant containing most of the oligonucleotide ( as indicated by the absorbance at 260 nm ) along with 7 - 10 % of the colloidal gold ( as indicated by the absorbance at 520 nm ), and a compact , dark , gelatinous residue at the bottom of the tube . the supernatant was removed , and the residue was resuspended in about 200 μl of buffer ( 10 mm phosphate , 0 . 1 m nacl ) and recentrifuged . after removal of the supernatant solution , the residue was taken up in 1 . 0 ml of buffer ( 10 mm phosphate , 0 . 1 m nacl ) and 10 μl of a 1 % aqueous solution of nan 3 . dissolution was assisted by drawing the solution into , and expelling it from , a pipette several times . the resulting red master solution was stable ( i . e ., remained red and did not aggregate ) on standing for months at room temperature , on spotting on silica thin - layer chromatography ( tlc ) plates , and on addition to 2 m nacl , 10 mm mgcl 2 , or solutions containing high concentrations of salmon sperm dna . for examples 2 - 5 we prepared different set of factor v probes using an aqueous solution of 17 nm ( 150 μl ) au colloids , as described above , was mixed with 3 . 75 μm ( 46 μl ) 5 ′- epiendrosterone - a 20 - tattcctcgcc ( seq id no : 2 ), and allowed to stand for 24 hours at room temperature in 1 ml eppendorf capped vials . a second solution of colloids was reacted with 3 . 75 μm ( 46 μl ) 5 ′- epiendrosterone - a 20 - attccttgcct - 3 ′. ( seq id no : 3 ). note that these oligonucleotides are non - complementary . the residue was dissolved using the same procedure described above and the resulting solution was stored in a glass bottle until further use . stock buffer solution : for the hybridization buffer , the following stock solution was used : 3 . 0 nacl , 0 . 3 m na - citrate , 10 mm mgcl 2 , 4 . 0 mm nah 2 po 4 and 0 . 005 % sds . hybridization assay was performed using diluted buffer ( 0 . 78m nacl , 70 mm sodium citate , 2 . 64 mm mgcl 2 , 1 . 1 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 01 %) from the stock buffer solution by adding 0 . 5 % of tween . in a typical experiment procedure , target and probe were mixed with the hybridization buffer and heated the mixture at 95 ° c . for 5 minutes . after cooling to room temperature aliquots were transferred on to the glass substrate and placed in humidity chamber for hybridization ( different assays were done at different temperature conditions since each probe has a different melting temperature ). after hybridization , plates were washed with two different wash buffers and spin dried . plates dried were treated with silver amplification solutions ( silvera + silverb ) ( silver amplification kit available from sigma , st . louis , mo . 63178 , catalog no : s 5020 and s 5145 ) and the data was collected from the amplified plates using an imaging system for data collection described in ( nanosphere , inc . assignee ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 210 , 959 and pct / us02 / 24604 , both filed aug . 2 , 2002 , which are incorporated by reference in their entirety . this factor v target sequence was used in examples 2 - 6 for detection . m13 probes were used in example 1 for direct probe targeting to capture strand test the plates and no target detection was performed here . but from example 2 - 5 factor v target detection was done in presence of factor v probes and m13 probes . here m13 probes served as controls . in plate no : 5 different combination of assay were performed on one plate including factor v wild type and mismatch detection . each well in plate no : 6 was clearly defined with target and probes used . probe fv ( 13d ): 5 ′- epi - a 20 - tattcctcgcc 3 ′ ( seq id no : 5 ) probe fv ( 26d ): 5 ′- epi - a 20 - attccttgcct3 ′ ( seq id no : 6 ) 5 ′- tcc tga tga aga tta gac att ctc ( seq id no : 7 ) gtc - nh - co - nh - si -( oet ) 3 - 3 ′ stock buffer solution : for the hybridization buffer , the following stock solution was used : 3 . 0 nacl , 0 . 3 m na - citrate , 1 mm mgcl 2 , 4 . 0 mm nah 2 po 4 and 0 . 005 % sds . in this example , probe was targeted directly to the capture strand and a detection assay was performed . plates nos . 1 - 3 were prepared as described in example 1 ( method no . 1 ). in plates 2 & amp ; 3 , probes ( fig6 ) were clearly hybridized to the capture strand within 45 minutes . the gold colloid nanoparticles hybridized to the capture were clearly visible before silver amplification . in plate no 1 ( fig6 ), a different probe was used and the assay was developed to show the specificity . after silver stain development , signals were not shown on the glass surface even after silver amplification . this experiment established the specificity of the dna chip prepared in accordance with the invention . 5 ′- tga aat tgt tat c - nh - co - nh -- si - ( seq id no : 8 ) ( oet ) 3 - 3 ′ 3 ′- act tta aca ata g - a 20 - epi - 5 ′ ( seq id no : 9 ) on plate no . 1 , a detection probe 3 ′- t taa cac tcg c - a 20 - epi - 5 ′ ( seq id no : 10 ) was used which was non - complementary to the capture strand for sequence specificity testing ( no signals ). this clearly showed the specificity of the both capture strand sequence and the probe . in both cases , 6 nm probe was used in diluted buffer conditions . in a typical experimental procedure , 30 μl of the diluted buffer ( 1 . 3m nacl , 130 mm sodium citrate , 4 . 38 mm mgcl 2 , 1 . 82 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 003 % sds ) and 20 μl of probe ( 10 nm ) was flooded on the arrayed glass chip and allowed to hybridize for 1 . 5 h at room temperature . the final concentration of probe was 4 nm and buffer concentration was 0 . 78m nacl , 70 mm sodium citrate , 2 . 64 mm mgcl 2 , 1 . 1 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 002 % sds . thereafter , the chip was washed with 0 . 75 m sodium chloride , 75 mm citrate and 0 . 05 % tween buffer and then washed again with 0 . 5m sodium nitrate buffer . then plates were treated with silver amplification solutions silver a + silverb ( 1 ml + 1 ml = total 2 ml ) for 4 minutes and washed with nanopure water . finally , the plates were exposed to the imaging system for data collection as discussed above . detection of factor v target sequence using a dna array chip in this example , two different silanized capture strands were spotted directly on the plate and detected . the plate was prepared as described in example 1 ( method no . 1 ). the middle row always carried the positive control capture with other capture on top and bottom rows . here , wild type , mutant and heterozygous samples were used for the detection . all samples were showed signals in the proper place using the above mentioned assay conditions . see fig7 . 5 ′- tga aat tgt tat c - nh - co - nh - si - ( seq id no : 10 ) ( oet ) 3 - 3 ′ 3 ′- act tta aca ata g - a 20 - epi - 5 ′ ( seq id no : 11 ) probe fv 13d ( probe for wild type target ): 5 ′- epi - a 20 - tattcctcgcc 3 ′ ( seq id no : 12 ) probe fv 26d ( probe for mutant target ): 5 ′- epi - a 20 - attccttgcct3 ′ ( seq id no : 13 ) 5 ′- tcc tga tga aga tta gac att ctc gtc - nh - co - nh -- si -( oet ) 3 - 3 ′ 5 ′ gacatcgcctctgggctaataggactacttc ( seq id no : 13 ) taatctgtaagagcagatccctggacaggcaagg aatacaggtattttgtccttgaagtaacctttca g 3 ′ well 3 : control — with probe 26d , only positive control should show up in this example , an mthfr 100mer synthetic target and 208 base pair pcr product ( 10 nm ˜ 50 nm ) was used in the detection assay . the plates were prepared as described in example 1 ( method no . 1 ). alternative wells were used as controls using m13 target and mthfr 18mer probe and did not show even traces of silver , following silver signal amplification . as shown in plate no . 1 ( fig8 ), an experiment was performed at 70 ° c . to show that probe does not hybridize above melting temperature ( mthfr target and 18mer probe ). the results show probe specificity and that at high temperature , the probes are not binding nonspecifically to the silyl oligo - attached substrate . 5 ′- aag cac ttg aag gag aag gtg tct ( seq id no : 14 ) gcg gga gcc gat ttc atc atc acg cag ctt ttc ttt gag gct gac aca ttc ttc cgc ttt gtg aag gca tgc acc ga - 3 ′ 3 ′- ctg tgt aag aag gcg ttt - a 20 - ( seq id no : 15 ) epi - 5 ′ 5 ′ ccttgaacaggtggaggccagcctctcctgactg ( seq id no : 16 ) tcatccctattggcaggttaccccaaaggccacccc gaagcagggagctttgaggctgacctgaagcacttg aaggagaaggtgtctgcgggagccgatttcatcatc acgcagcttttctttgaggctgacacattcttccgc tttgtgaaggcatgcaccgacatgggcatcacttgc cccatcgtccccgggatctttcccatccaggtgagg ggcccaggagagcccataagctccctccaccccact ctcaccgc in a typical experimental procedure ( on plate no : 2 ), to 30 μl of the diluted buffer ( 1 . 3m nacl , 130 mm sodium citrate , 4 . 38 mm mgcl 2 , 1 . 82 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 003 % sds ), 10 μl of 18mer probe ( 10 nm ) and 2 μl of 100mer synthetic target ( 10 μm ) 8 μl of water were mixed and flooded on the arrayed glass chip and allowed to hybridize for 1 . 5 h at room temperature . the final concentration of probe was 2 nm and target concentration was 400 pm and buffer concentration was 0 . 78m nacl , 70 mm sodium citate , 2 . 64 mm mgcl 2 , 1 . 1 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 01 %). after that washed with 0 . 75 m sodium chloride , 75 mm citrate and 0 . 05 % tween buffer and then washed again with 0 . 5m sodium nitrate buffer . after that plates were treated with silver a + silverb ( 1 ml + 1 ml = total 2 ml ) ( silver amplification kit available from sigma , st . louis , mo . 63178 , catalog no : s 5020 and s 5145 ) for 4 minutes and washed with nanopure water . finally plates were exposed to imaging system for data collection as discussed above . in example 3 on plate no : 2 , wells no : 2 1 , 4 , 5 , 8 are controls and controls made up with m13 synthetic target and mthfr 18mer probe ( 5 ′- tat gct tcc ggc tcg tat gtt gtg tgg aat tgt gag cgg ata aca att tca - 3 ′). ( seq id no : 17 ) as mentioned earlier , the experiment on plate no . 1 ( fig8 ) was performed at 70 ° c . to show that above melting temperature probe 18mer probe did not bind to the capture probe . plate no . 3 ( fig8 ) was generated following the same experimental procedure and using the same probes . 10 μl ( 2 nm ˜ 10 nm ) of mthfr pcr product was used as target . plate no . 3 wells 2 , 3 , 6 and 7 are the controls with factor v 99mer mutant target and mthfr 18mer probe . in this example and in the following example 7 , the same capture strands were arrayed on the plate . the purpose of this experiment was to find out the difference in intensity of the spots after silver development when same oligomer was spotted on the slide at different places . positive control was spotted in the middle of two factor v 4g oligomer captures on the slide . the results are shown in fig9 . 5 ′ tcc tga tga aga tta gac att ctc ( seq id no : 19 ) gtc - nh - co - nh - si -( oet ) 3 - 3 ′ 5 ′ tga aat tgt tat c - nh - co - nh -- si - ( seq id no : 20 ) ( oet ) 3 - 3 ′ the target sequence used was wild type factor v 99base pair single strand dna having the following sequence : probe fv 13d : 5 ′- epi - a 20 - tattcctcgcc 3 ′, ( seq id no : 23 ) probe fv 26d : 5 ′- epi - a 20 - attccttgcct3 ′. ( seq id no : 24 ) in a typical experimental procedure , to 25 μl of the diluted buffer ( 1 . 3m nacl , 130 mm sodium citrate , 4 . 38 mm mgcl 2 , 1 . 82 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 003 % sds ), 10 μl of probe ( 10 nm ) and 10 μl of pcr target ( 15 - 50 nm ) and 5 μl of positive control probe ( 10 nm ) were mixed and flooded on the arrayed glass chip and allowed to hybridize for 1 . 5 h at room temperature . the final concentration of probe was 2 nm , and buffer concentration was 0 . 78m nacl , 70 mm sodium citate , 2 . 64 mm mgcl 2 , 1 . 1 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 01 %). that the plates was then washed with 0 . 75 sodium chloride , 75 mm citrate and 0 . 05 % tween buffer and then washed again with 0 . 5m sodium nitrate buffer . the plates were treated with silver a + silverb ( 1 ml + 1 ml = total 2 ml ) for 4 minutes and washed with nanopure water . finally , the plates were exposed to the imaging system described above for data collection . both positive control probe and target reacted probe were mixed and the assay was run to show the selectivity of the probe . the wells were identified as follows : wells 1 , 6 , 8 and 9 have only positive control probe with target and buffer . wells 2 , 5 had both positive control probe and target probe with targets and buffer . wells 4 , 7 and 10 have only target probe with target and buffer and here positive control probe and target were absent . well 3 did not have any target and positive control probe but it had target probe and buffer . these results ( fig9 ) show that probes were specific to target detection and no non - specific background noise was observed when target was absent . in this example , all capture strands pattern is the same as described in example no . 6 . moreover , the same experimental conditions and concentrations described in example 6 were used to perform the assay at 52 ° c . wild type and mutant targets were given in the example 6 . the results are shown in fig1 . the wells are identified as follows : well 1 : positive control probe directly probing to the capture strand in the same buffer conditions mentioned in example 4 . well 2 : factor v probe 5 ′- epi - a 20 - attccttgcct - 3 ′ ( 26d ) ( seq id no : 27 ) and factor v 99base pair mutant target , positive control probe and buffer . well 3 : factor v probe 5 ′- epi - a 20 - attccttgcct - 3 ′ ( 26d ) ( seq id no : 28 ) and factor v 99base pair mutant target and hybridization buffer . well 4 : probe 13d and factor v mutant pcr target , positive control and hybridization buffer . well 5 : probe 13d and factor v mutant pcr target , and hybridization buffer . well 7 : wild type factor v target , probe ( 26d ), positive control probe and hybridization buffer , well 8 : wild type factor v target and probe ( 26d ), and hybridization buffer . well 9 : wild type factor v target , probe 13 ( d ), positive control probe and hybridization buffer . well 10 : wild type factor v target , probe 13 ( d ), and hybridization buffer . probe fv 13d : 5 ′- epi - a 20 - tattcctcgcc - 3 ′ ( seq id no : 29 ) probe fv 26d : 5 ′- epi - a 20 - attccttgcct - 3 ′ ( seq id no : 30 ) these results ( fig1 ) show that probes were reacted specifically to the target and there is no cross hybridization between probes and targets were observed when probes were mixed with different targets . 5 . angew . chem . int . ed , 38 , no . 9 , 1297 ( 1999 ) 7 . ( a ) nucleic acids research , vol . 28 , no . 13 e71 ( 2000 ); ( b ) huber et al . wo 01 / 46214 , published jun . 28 , 2001 ( c ) huber et al . wo 01 / 46213 , published jun . 28 , 2001 ( d ) huber et al . wo 01 / 46464 , published jun . 28 , 2001 9 . nucleic acids research , vol 29 , no . 13 e69 ( 2001 ).