How can antibodies detect such small molecules?
Antibody binding targets a distinctive pattern of atoms. This pattern can be as small as a single amino acid residue. A non-immunogenic small molecule (a hapten) can be presented to the immune system by coupling it to a carrier protein with a bifunctional link such as glutaraldehyde (GA). This creates a highly immunogenic hapten-GA-carrier complex that elicits production of IgGs highly specific for the hapten. Read more & references.
