A 2D DNA Lattice as an Ultrasensitive Detector for Beta Radiations

There is growing demand for the development of efficient ultrasensitive radiation detectors to monitor the doses administered to individuals during therapeutic nuclear medicine which is often based on radiopharmaceuticals, especially those involving beta emitters. Recently biological materials are used in sensors in the nanobio disciplines due to their abilities to detect specific target materials or sites. Artificially designed two-dimensional (2D) DNA lattices grown on a substrate were analyzed after exposure to pure beta emitters, ⁹⁰Sr-⁹⁰Y. We studied the Raman spectra and reflected intensities of DNA lattices at various distances from the source with different exposure times. Although beta particles have very low linear energy transfer values, the significant physical and chemical changes observed throughout the extremely thin, ∼0.6 nm, DNA lattices suggested the feasibility of using them to develop ultrasensitive detectors of beta radiations

Multidimensional Honeycomb-like DNA Nanostructures Made of C‑Motifs

Thanks to its remarkable properties of self-assembly and molecular recognition, DNA can be used in the construction of various dimensional nanostructures to serve as templates for decorating nanomaterials with nanometer-scale precision. Accordingly, this study discusses a design strategy for fabricating such multidimensional DNA nanostructures made of simple C-motifs. One-dimensional (1D) honeycomb-like tubes (1HTs) and two-dimensional (2D) honeycomb-like lattices (2HLs) were constructed using a C-motif with an arm length of 14 nucleotides (nt) at an angle of 240° along the counterclockwise direction. We designed and fabricated four different types of 1HTs and three different 2HLs. The study used atomic force microscopy to characterize the distinct topologies of the 1D and 2D DNA nanostructures (i.e., 1HTs and 2HLs, respectively). The width deviation of the 1HTs and height suppression percentage of the 2HLs were calculated and discussed. Our study can be provided to construct various dimensional DNA nanostructures easily with high efficiency

Energy Band Gap and Optical Transition of Metal Ion Modified Double Crossover DNA Lattices

We report on the energy band gap and optical transition of a series of divalent metal ion (Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Co²⁺) modified DNA (M–DNA) double crossover (DX) lattices fabricated on fused silica by the substrate-assisted growth (SAG) method. We demonstrate how the degree of coverage of the DX lattices is influenced by the DX monomer concentration and also analyze the band gaps of the M–DNA lattices. The energy band gap of the M–DNA, between the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), ranges from 4.67 to 4.98 eV as judged by optical transitions. Relative to the band gap of a pristine DNA molecule (4.69 eV), the band gap of the M–DNA lattices increases with metal ion doping up to a critical concentration and then decreases with further doping. Interestingly, except for the case of Ni²⁺, the onset of the second absorption band shifts to a lower energy until a critical concentration and then shifts to a higher energy with further increasing the metal ion concentration, which is consistent with the evolution of electrical transport characteristics. Our results show that controllable metal ion doping is an effective method to tune the band gap energy of DNA-based nanostructures

X-ray diffraction and VT-NMR studies of (E)-3-(piperidinyl)-1-(2 '-hydroxyphenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one

A series of 1-aryl-3-(cyclicamino)-prop-2-en-1-one analogs was synthesized from commercial acetophenones in 2 or 3 steps. Compound 6, (E)-3-(piperidinyl)-1-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one, exhibited the unique shape and intensity of the Csp2NCH2peaks in the 1H and 13C NMR spectra. Variable temperature (VT) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies of 6 revealed that the piperidine ring has a lower energy barrier to rotation than the 5-membered pyrrolidine 9 due to the less effective π electron delocalization along the Csp2N bond. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.