Self-assembly of conjugated polymers and ds-oligonucleotides directed fractal-like aggregates

Biomacromolecules. 2007 May;8(5):1723-9. doi: 10.1021/bm070082k. Epub 2007 Apr 26.

Abstract

Highly ordered nanostructures between conjugated polymers and ds-oligonucleotides have been first fabricated by simply controlling the self-assembly processes, which shows a novel concept for fabricating fractal-like structures. The formation of polymer/DNA fractal-like aggregates is a diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) process. The fractal dimension is independent of the polymer/DNA concentration but only related to the polymer/DNA charge ratio. More interestingly, the different fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET) behavior between the polymer and the DNA can be used to distinguish dsDNA from ssDNA.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Base Sequence
  • DNA / chemistry*
  • DNA / ultrastructure
  • DNA, Single-Stranded / chemistry*
  • DNA, Single-Stranded / ultrastructure
  • Diffusion
  • Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
  • Fractals
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Nanostructures / ultrastructure
  • Oligonucleotides / chemistry*
  • Polymers / chemistry*

Substances

  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • Oligonucleotides
  • Polymers
  • poly(phenylene ethynylene)
  • DNA