We report the self-assembly of a hydrophilic 8-(m-acetylphenyl)-2′-deoxyguanosine (mAG) derivative into a discrete and thermally stable hexadecameric supramolecule in aqueous media. We demonstrate that this hexadecamer is isostructural to the one formed by a related lipophilic derivative in organic media. This mAG moiety represents a rare example of a small-molecule recognition motif that is capable of assembling isostructurally and with high fidelity in both organic and aqueous media.

Self-assembly is a powerful tool for the construction of complex nanostructures. Despite advances in the field, the development of precise self-assembled structures remains a challenge. We have shown that, in the presence of suitably sized cations like K(+), 8-aryl-2'-deoxyguanosine (8ArG) derivatives self-assemble into sets of coaxially stacked planar tetramers, which we term supramolecular G-quadruplexes (SGQs). Previously, we reported that, when the 8-aryl group is a phenyl ring with a meta-carbonyl group, the resulting supramolecule is a hexadecamer, which is remarkably robust as illustrated by its isostructural assembly in both organic and aqueous environments. We report here a detailed three-dimensional structure of the SGQs formed by lipophilic, and hydrophilic, 8ArG derivatives with either 8-(meta-acetylphenyl), 8-(para-acetylphenyl), or 8-(meta-ethoxycarbonylphenyl) groups. The chirality and close contacts between the subunits impose different levels of steric and electrostatic constraints on opposite sides of the tetrads, which determine their preferred relative orientation. The balance between attractive noncovalent interactions juxtaposed with repulsive steric and electrostatic interactions explains the high cooperativity, fidelity, and stability of these SGQs. These structural studies, together with titration experiments and molecular dynamics simulations, provide insight into the mechanism of formation of these SGQs.

Controlling the properties of self-assembled supramolecules via intrinsic parameters (i.e., structural information in the subunits) enables the reliable construction of assemblies of well-defined size and composition. Here we show that an optimum balance between repulsive (e.g., steric) and attractive (e.g., π−π, dipole−dipole) noncovalent interactions between subunits of a lipophilic 8-(3-pyridyl)-2′-deoxyguanosine derivative enables the high fidelity formation of a stable and discrete self-assembled dodecamer. In contrast, the isosteric 8-phenyl-2′-deoxyguanosine derivative assembles into an octamer because it cannot engage in additional dipole−dipole interactions. Adding dodecamers to a supramolecular construction toolbox, already containing octamers and hexadecamers made from other 8-aryl-2′-deoxyguanosine derivatives, should enable the preparation of a wide variety of self-assembled nanostructures where the size and the number of functional elements can be precisely fine-tuned for specific applications.

Supramolecular G-quadruplexes (SGQs) are formed via the cation promoted self-assembly of guanine derivatives into stacks of planar hydrogen-bonded tetramers. Here, we present results on the formation of SGQs made from the 8-(m-acetylphenyl)-2′-deoxyguanosine (mAGi) derivative in the presence of various mono- and divalent cations. NMR and HR ESI-MS data indicate that varying the cation can efficiently tune the molecularity, the fidelity and stability (thermal and kinetic) of the resulting SGQs. The results show that, parallel to the previously reported potassium-templated hexadecamer (mAGi16·3K+), Na+, Rb+ and NH4+ also promote the formation of similar supramolecules with high fidelity and molecularity. In contrast, the divalent cations Pb2+, Sr2+ and Ba2+ template the formation of octamers (mAGi8), with the latter two inducing higher thermal stabilities. Molecular dynamics simulations for the hexadecamers containing monovalent cations enabled critical insights that help explain the experimental observations.

Most drugs are small molecules because of their attractive pharmacokinetics, manageable development and manufacturing, and effective binding into the concave crevices of bio-macromolecules. Despite these features, they often fall short when it comes to effectively recognizing the surfaces of bio-macromolecules. One way to overcome the challenge of biomolecular surface recognition is to develop small molecules that become self-assembled ligands (SALs) prior to binding. Herein, we report SALs made from 8-aryl-2′-deoxyguanosine derivatives forming precise hydrophilic supramolecular G-quadruplexes (SGQs) with excellent size, shape, and charge complementarity to G-quadruplex DNA (QDNA). We show that only those compounds forming SGQs act as SALs, which in turn differentially stabilize QDNAs from selected oncogene promoters and the human telomeric regions. Fluorescence resonance energy-transfer melting assays are consistent with spectroscopic, calorimetric, and light scattering studies, showing the formation of a “sandwichlike” complex QDNA·SGQ·QDNA. These results open the door for the advent of SALs that recognize QDNAs and potentially the surfaces of other bio-macromolecules such as proteins.

Guanosine and related derivatives self-assemble in the presence of cations like potassium into supramolecular G-quadruplexes (SGQs), where four guanine moieties form planar tetrads (T) that coaxially stack into columnar aggregates with broad size distributions. However, SGQs made from 8-aryl-2’-deoxyguanosine derivatives (8ArGs), form mostly octamers, or two-tetrad (2T)-SGQs, while some form dodecamers (3T-SGQs), or hexadecamers (4T-SGQs), and none reported to date form higher assemblies. A theoretical model that addresses the configurational space available for the multiple pathways available for 8ArGs to self-assemble into SGQs is used to frame a series of molecular dynamics simulations (MDS) with selected SGQs. Some key insights from this work include: (a) The predicted entropic costs are not significantly higher for SGQs with more subunits due to their hierarchical assembly pathways; (b) The multiple isomeric SGQs vary in the interfacial contacts between consecutive tetrads, due to their two distinct sides (head, h; tail, t), with the MDS supporting the predicted order of stability of hh > ht > tt for octamers. (c) Such order also applies to dodecamers and hexadecamers, but with context-dependent exceptions due to strong allosteric effects. (d) The main factor disfavoring the tt interface is the repulsive dipolar interactions between the O4’ from ribose moieties on adjacent tetrads. (e) SGQs with 5 or more tetrads are disfavored because the attractive interactions are not large or strong enough to overcome the many repulsive forces resulting from the addition of further tetrads. We expect these findings provide some guidelines to enable the further development of SGQs into functional materials.