Premium
DNA–Metal Base Pairs
Author(s) -
Clever Guido H.,
Kaul Corinna,
Carell Thomas
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.200701185
Subject(s) - nucleobase , dna , base pair , oligonucleotide , dna origami , nanotechnology , molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid , chemistry , combinatorial chemistry , materials science , nanostructure , biochemistry
Abstract Recent developments show encouraging results for the use of DNA as a construction material for nanometer‐sized objects. Today, however, DNA‐based molecular nanoarchitectures are constructed with mainly unmodified or at best end‐modified oligonucleotides, thus shifting the development of functionalized DNA structures into the limelight. One of most recent developments in this direction is the substitution of the canonical Watson–Crick base pairs by metal complexes. In this way “metal–base pairs” are created, which could potentially impart magnetic or conductive properties to DNA‐based nanostructures. This review summarizes research which started almost 45 years ago with the investigation of how metal ions interact with unmodified DNA and which recently culminated in the development of artificial ligand‐like nucleobases so far able to coordinate up to ten metal ions inside a single DNA duplex in a programmable fashion.