title: Cooperative melting in caged dimers of rigid small molecule-DNA hybrids.
abstract: Rigid small-molecule DNA hybrids (rSMDHs) have been synthesized with three DNA strands attached to a rigid tris(phenylacetylene) core. When combined under dilute conditions, complementary rSMDHs form cage dimers that melt at >10 degrees C higher and much sharper than either unmodified DNA duplexes or rSMDH aggregates formed at higher concentrations. With a 2.97 average number of cooperative duplexes, these caged dimers constitute the first example of cooperative melting in well-defined DNA-small-molecule structures, demonstrating the important roles that local geometry and ion concentration play in the hybridization/dehybridization of DNA-based materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3113, USA.
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Stepp
authors.forename: Julianne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gibbs-Davis
authors.forename: Dorothea L F
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: SonBinh T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Nguyen
mesh_terms: D000114:Acetylene / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D019281:Dimerization; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D044366:Transition Temperature
chemical_list: C044736:phenylacetylene; D004247:DNA; D000114:Acetylene