title: Self-assembly of porphyrins on nucleic acid templates.
abstract: The cis and trans isomers of dicationic bis(4-N-methylpyridyl)diphenylporphine show a much greater tendency to aggregate than similar tetracationic porphyrins. Upon binding to nucleic acids these aggregating dicationic porphyrins form long-range structures on the polymer template giving intense circular dichroism signals whose profile reports the helical sense of the DNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Goucher College, Towson, MD 21204.
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Gibbs
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tinoco
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Maestre
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ellinas
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Pasternack
mesh_terms: D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D011166:Porphyrins; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013057:Spectrum Analysis
chemical_list: D009696:Nucleic Acids; D011166:Porphyrins; D012965:Sodium Chloride