Hybrid inorganic-nucleic acid structures

Transition metal ion incorporation in hybrid inorganic-nucleic acid structures adds another dimension to the field of DNA nanotechnology because metal ions, in particular those with unpaired d electrons, have a broad range of electronic and magnetic properties. In most applications in material science, DNA is used as a scaffold for uniform binding of metal ions either to nucleobases or to ligands attached to nucleobases. For example, Braun et al. 

Figure 18. Extended hybrid inorganic-nucleic acid structures based on inorganic DNA junctions (adapted from References 168,169, and 172).

This chapter presented the results of research aimed at the combined use of transition metal coordination and nucleic acid hybridization to construct hybrid inorganic-nucleic acid supramolecular structures. The interaction of alkali metal ions with DNA and RNA is nonspecific, and has been long... 

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