Single-molecular detection in solution: a new tool for analytical chemistry.

Single-molecule detection (SMD) is becoming more and more popular in the scientific community and is on the threshold to become a technique for laboratory use. Therefore, conceivable applications as well as optimized conditions for SMD will be discussed. To point out the possibilities of SMD, the signal-to-background ratio and the detection efficiency, in combination with the probability of misclassification, will be contemplated.