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Supramolecular Materials Comprising Nucleic Acid Biopolymers |
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| Authors: | Wirasak Smitthipong Thorsten Neumann Arkadiusz Chworos Luc Jaeger Matthew Tirrell |
| Institution: | 1. Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA;2. Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA;3. Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA;4. Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA |
| Abstract: | We have generated a supramolecular self-assembling film by exchanging the counter-ions of the phosphate moieties in nucleic acid with those of cationic amphiphiles as didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (or DDAB). SAXS and WAXS data for all film samples showed similar harmonic peaks suggesting a lamellar multilayer structure with layers of nucleic acids being separated by lipid bilayers of DDAB. AFM height images also showed that double stranded nucleic acid film can form the step or plateau type of structure and shorter nucleic acid film showed shorter step feature. Moreover, the length and the molecular structure of DNA and RNA can be used to manipulate the mechanical properties of these self-assembled films. |
| Keywords: | biomaterials biopolymers self-assembly supramolecular structures |