Nanoparticles functionalized with multiple ligands can be programed to bind biological targets depending on the receptors they express, providing a general mechanism exploited in various technologies, from selective drug delivery to biosensing. For binding to be highly selective, ligands should exclusively interact with specific targeted receptors, because the formation of bonds with other, untargeted ones would lead to nonspecific binding and potentially harmful behavior. This poses a particular problem for multivalent nanoparticles, because even very weak bonds can collectively lead to strong binding. A statistical mechanical model is used here to describe how competition between different receptors together with multivalent effects can be harnessed to design ligand-functionalized nanoparticles insensitive to the presence of untargeted receptors, preventing nonspecific binding.

• Received 7 November 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.068001