A general approach to DNA-programmable atom equivalents

作者：Zhang Chuan; Macfarlane Robert J; Young Kaylie L; Choi Chung Hang J; Hao Liangliang; Auyeung Evelyn; Liu Guoliang; Zhou Xiaozhu; Mirkin Chad A^*

来源：Nature Materials, 2013, 12(8): 741-746.

DOI：10.1038/NMAT3647

Nanoparticles can be combined with nucleic acids to programme the formation of three-dimensional colloidal crystals where the particles' size, shape, composition and position can be independently controlled(1-7). However, the diversity of the types of material that can be used is limited by the lack of a general method for preparing the basic DNA-functionalized building blocks needed to bond nanoparticles of different chemical compositions into lattices in a controllable manner. Here we show that by coating nanoparticles protected with aliphatic ligands with an azide-bearing amphiphilic polymer, followed by the coupling of DNA to the polymer using strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition(8) (also known as copper-free azide-alkyne click chemistry), nanoparticles bearing a high-density shell of nucleic acids can be created regardless of nanoparticle composition. This method provides a route to a virtually endless class of programmable atom equivalents for DNA-based colloidal crystallization.

• 出版日期2013-8
• 单位西北大学