19 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Interactions between metal ions and DNA
84 years elapsed between the announcements of the periodic table and that of the DNA double helix in 1953, and the two have been combined in many ways since then. In this chapter an outline of the fundamentals of DNA structure leads into a range of examples showing how the natural magnesium and potassium ions found in nature can be substituted in a diversity of applications. The dynamic structures found in nature have been studied in the more controlled but artificial environment of the DNA crystal using examples from sodium to platinum and also in a range of DNA-binding metal complexes. While NMR is an essential technique for studying nucleic acid structure and conformation, most of our knowledge of metal ion binding has come from X-ray crystallography. These days the structures studied, and therefore also the diversity of metal binding, go beyond the double helix to triplexes, hairpin loops, junctions and quadruplexes, and the chapter describes briefly how these pieces fit into the DNA jigsaw. In a final section, the roles of metal cations in the crystallisation of new DNA structures are discussed, along with an introduction to the versatility of the periodic table of absorption edges for nucleic acid structure determination
Ultrafast in cellulo photoinduced dynamics processes of the paradigm molecular light switch [Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+
An in cellulo study of the ultrafast excited state processes in the paradigm molecular light switch [Ru(bpy)(2)dppz](2+) by localized pump-probe spectroscopy is reported for the first time. The localization of [Ru(bpy)(2)dppz](2+) in HepG2 cells is verified by emission microscopy and the characteristic photoinduced picosecond dynamics of the molecular light switch is observed in cellulo. The observation of the typical phosphorescence stemming from a (3)MLCT state suggests that the [Ru(bpy)(2)dppz](2+) complex intercalates with the DNA in the nucleus. The results presented for this benchmark coordination compound reveal the necessity to study the photoinduced processes in coordination compounds for intracellular use, e.g. as sensors or as photodrugs, in the actual biological target environment in order to derive a detailed molecular mechanistic understanding of the excited-state properties of the systems in the actual biological target environment