Institute of Fundamental Sciences Chemistry/Biophysics Seminar
“ Modular Self-Assembly of DNA
Encoded Nanostructures”
Professor Gary B. Schuster
Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
1:00 pm
Friday 18
thJanuary 2013 ScD 1.03
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Apart from its role as the “information polymer” of life, DNA has recently been recognized as a useful scaffold for the preparation of nanometre scale objects with unique and useful properties.
We have exploited the self-recognizing and self-assembly properties of DNA to construct nanometre scale arrays of conducting polymers. A series of DNA oligomers containing 2,5-bis(2- thienyl)pyrrole monomers linked covalently to N4 of alternating cytosines is placed between leading and trailing 12 nucleobase recognition sequences. These DNA modules were encoded so that the recognition sequences uniquely associate through Watson-Crick assembly to form closed- cycle or linear arrays of aligned monomers. The cyclic and linear arrays that result exhibit chemical and optical properties that are typical of conducting thiophene-like polymers with a red-end absorption beyond 1250 nm. These DNA-scaffolded conducting polymers can be used as active elements to construct molecular scale devices.
