DNA–Melamine Hybrid Molecules: From Self-Assembly to Nanostructures

Single-stranded DNA–melamine hybrid molecular building blocks were synthesized using a phosphoramidation cross-coupling reaction with a zero linker approach. The self-assembly of the DNA–organic hybrid molecules was achieved by DNA hybridization. Following self-assembly, two distinct types of nanostructures in the form of linear chains and network arrays were observed for the first time. The morphology of the DNA-melamine self-assembled nanostructures was found to depend on the number of DNA strands that were attached to a single melamine molecule. This is reported in the journal “Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology” (DNA–melamine hybrid molecules: from self-assembly to nanostructures, Rina Kumari, Shib Shankar Banerjee, Anil K. Bhowmick and Prolay Das, Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1432-1438)

(A) Linear assembly of DNA–melamine and (B) Network assembly of DNA-melamine triconjugates. The black scale bar is 120 nm.