Abstract
In recent years, biological molecules have brought about a renaissance in the development of novel responsive materials. An example of this is the development of new photoresponsive materials for the artificial regulation of chemical and biological systems. Towards this we have developed a novel enzymatic synthetic approach for covalent attachment of photoresponsive units into the RNA backbone. This involves a lipase catalyzed acylation of the 2' hydroxyl group in the ribose sugars in the RNA molecule to incorporate photo-isomerizable azobenzene groups into the RNA strands. A reverse micellar approach was used for this RNA functionalization to maintain the solubility of the nucleic acid as well as to limit the preferred hydrolysis reaction in aqueous media. The azobenzene groups incorporated in the RNA molecule show photo-isomerization behavior and can serve as optical ‘handles’ for the manipulation of the conformation of RNA. This modification of RNA using covalently attached chromophores or fluorophores is a generic approach that can be extended to other biomacromolecular matrices leading to new opportunities for biophotonic device applications. †Deceased.
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