Metal-mediated fabrication of new functional G-quartet-based supramolecular nanostructure and potential application as controlled drug release system

Abstract

The creation and expansion of addressable supramolecular architectures in a facile and economic way with further functions still remain a big challenge in the field of self-assembly. Herein, we demonstrated a novel strategy to construct a metal-mediated G-quartet-based supramolecular nanostructure with controllable functions. By using 5′-GMP as basic building blocks in dilute solution, the Sr²⁺ promoted assemblies are simple and intuitive, yet cost-effective. The resulting structures can be regarded as completely homogeneous from the structural point of view and the nanowires are much longer than those previously reported. The nanowires can be controlled by chemical input signals, namely, divalent metal ions and a chelating agent. Furthermore, the encapsulating feature of this system towards G-quadruplex-specific ligands might be of particular biological significance, in the framework of nucleic telomerase.