Poly(thymine)-Templated Selective Formation of Fluorescent Copper Nanoparticles

摘要

By virtue of a unique nanosized linear geometric structure, excellent molecule recognition properties, and high affinity for some metal ions, DNA has been used as a template for metallic nanostructures through the binding of metal ions on the DNA and subsequent chemical reduction of the DNA-complexed metal ions. This approach has been used for fabricating metal nanoclusters with tunable fluorescence emission and high photostability that are suitabable for biological diagnostic techniques as well as conductive DNA nanowires by deposition of metal atoms on linear DNA. For example, DNA-templated nanowires of silver, palladium platinum, copper, and gold have been obtained. However, the controlled reduction of DNA-com-plexed metal ions on pre-selected sections of DNA is still rarely reported and is confined to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). The first example was reported by Braun and coworkers. They employed RecA proteins as the resist to protect a portion of the dsDNA.