
We describe a microarray format that can detect double-stranded DNA sequences with a high degree of sequence selectivity. Cyclooctyne-derivatized pyrrole–imidazole polyamides were immobilized on azide-modified glass substrates using microcontact printing and a strain-promoted azide–alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) reaction. These polyamide-immobilized substrates selectively detected a seven-base-pair binding site incorporated within a double-stranded oligodeoxyribonucleotide sequence even in the presence of an excess of a sequence with a single-base-pair mismatch.