The compositions were analyzed in 0.2 M NaClO4 in water using cyclic voltametry (CV) and square wave voltametry (SW), in the absence (i.e. single stranded) and presence (i.e. double stranded) of complementary target sequence. [0315] The results of SW show the absence of a peak prior to hybridization, i.e. in the absence of double stranded nucleic acid.