Amphiphilic DNA Organic Hybrids: Functional Materials in Nanoscience and Potential Application in Biomedicine

Abstract

Due to the addressability and programmability, DNA has been applied not merely in constructing static elegant nanostructures such as two dimensional and three dimensional DNA nanostructures but also in designing dynamic nanodevices. Moreover, DNA could combine with hydrophobic organic molecules to be a new amphiphilic building block and then self-assemble into nanomaterials. Of particular note, a recent state-of-the-art research has turned our attention to the amphiphilic DNA organic hybrids including small molecule modified DNA (lipid-DNA, fluorescent molecule-DNA, etc.), DNA block copolymers, and DNA-dendron hybrids. This review focuses mainly on the development of their self-assembly behavior and their potential application in nanomaterial and biomedicine. The potential challenges regarding of the amphiphilic DNA organic hybrids are also briefly discussed, aiming to advance their practical applications in nanoscience and biomedicine.

Hydrophobic Interaction: A Promising Driving Force for the Biomedical Applications of Nucleic Acids

“…[34,35] For another, DNA can be used as the hydrophilic block to synthesize DNA-based amphiphilic block copolymer, and the resultant self-assemblies can well reserve the functionality of DNA and generate many new properties owing to the hydrophobic interactions. [36][37][38][39][40][41] In this regard, the hydrophobicity of the hydrophobic block can also be tuned to control the properties of DNA-based amphiphilic block copolymer. Due to the interesting and important role of hydrophobic interactions in DNA-based materials, in this review, we will summary the recently developed strategies that mainly use hydrophobic interactions to construct DNA-based biomedical materials (Figure 1), including 1) hydrophobic-hydrophilic phase separation for intrinsic DNA condensation; 2) biomedical materials based on the selfassembly of nucleic acid amphiphiles; and 3) biomedical materials based on the hydrophobic-interaction-stabilized complexes between DNA and other nanomaterials.…”

Dynamic Nanostructures from DNA‐Coupled Molecules, Polymers, and Nanoparticles

“…Third, as DNA block copolymer assemblies are formed by weak and reversible interactions, they can be designed to undergo structural changes in response to external stimuli (vide infra). In addition to prototypical polymers, various DNA‐conjugated small molecules and oligomers have been synthesized and used to generate unique assembly structures that are difficult to make by the self‐assembly of typical DNA block copolymers . This section provides recent examples of shape‐changing DNA nanostructures made of DNA‐conjugated organic molecules and polymers, and discusses their potential applications.…”

“…DNA has been conjugated with a number of organic molecules/polymers and inorganic nanoparticles, which can be used as building blocks to form various assembly structures with predictable and controllable architectures . A broad range of materials have been employed in DNA‐based self‐assembly, spanning from metal nanoparticles, quantum dots, iron oxide nanoparticles, upconversion nanoparticles, and MOFs, to prototypical coil‐type polymers, biodegradable polymers, conjugated polymers, proteins, peptides, drugs, fluorophores, and quenchers …”

DNA-inspired oligomers: from oligophosphates to functional materials

“…1). 4 While the hybridisation behaviour of chemically modified DNA structures have been extensively studied, 5 information about their controlled folding into functional systems is still very limited.…”

“…Fig. 2 gives an overview on the monomeric building blocks (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) described in the following. Extensive research in monodisperse, sequence-specific oligophosphodiesters will help establishing general design principles based on the nature of their repetitive units.…”