Supramolecular DNA nanotechnology

Aldaye, Faisal A.; Sleiman, Hanadi F.

doi:10.1351/PAC-CON-09-08-13

Pure Appl. Chem., 2009, Vol. 81, No. 12, pp. 2157-2181

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/PAC-CON-09-08-13

Published online 2009-12-03

Supramolecular DNA nanotechnology*

Faisal A. Aldaye¹* and Hanadi F. Sleiman²

¹ Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA
² Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, QC H3A2K6, Canada

Abstract: Nature uses deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as the main material for the storage and transmission of life’s blueprint. Today, DNA is being used as a “smart” material to help solve a number of long-standing issues facing researchers in materials science and nanotechnology. In DNA nanotechnology, DNA’s powerful base-pair molecular recognition criteria are utilized to control the final structure and function of the material being generated. A sub-area of research that our group has recently termed “supramolecular DNA nanotechnology” is emerging and is extending the limits of this molecule in nanotechnology by further fine-tuning DNA’s structural and functional potential. This review will discuss the fruition and fundamentals of supramolecular DNA nanotechnology, as well as its future as a viable science in a material world.

*Pure Appl. Chem. 81, 2157-2251 (2009). A collection of invited, peer-reviewed articles by the winners of the 2009 IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists.