DNA Origami meets polymers A powerful tool for defined nanostructure design
- Hannewald, Nadine; Winterwerber, Pia; Zechel, Stefan; Ng, David Y. W.; Hager, Martin D.; Weil, Tanja; Schubert, Ulrich S.
- Abstract:
- While the art of DNA origami has been investigated extensively in recent years and demonstrated to work in a reliable manner, precise engineering of such patterns with polymers represents an emerging topic. Compared to conventional top‐down approaches ( i.e. lithography) or bottom‐up functionalization techniques ( i.e. self‐assembly), the combination of DNA origami nanostructures and polymers provides a new toolbox to access defined structures in the 100 nm range. In general, DNA origami serves as a versatile template for the highly specific arrangement of polymer chains. Polymeric DNA hybrid nanostructures can either be created by growing the polymer from the DNA template or by attaching preformed polymers to the DNA scaffold. These conjugations can be of a covalent nature or be based on base‐pair hybridization between respectively modified polymers and DNA origami. Furthermore, the negatively charged DNA backbone permits interaction with positively charged polyelectrolytes forming stable complexes. The combination of polymers with tuneable characteristics and DNA origami allows the creation of a new class of hybrid materials, which could offer exciting platforms for controlling energy transfer, nanoscale organic circuits or the templated synthesis of nanopatterned polymeric structures.
- Year:
- 2020
- Type of Publication:
- Article
- Journal:
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Volume:
- -
- Pages:
- -
- DOI:
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202005907