Preparation of water‐insoluble and biochemically stable RNA hybrid material

Abstract

RNA, which plays an important role in the transcription and translation of genetic processes, has novel functional material abilities, such as the complementary interaction with nucleic acid bases, intercalation, and the binding with metal ions. However, because the RNA is a water‐soluble and biochemically unstable biopolymer, RNA cannot be used as a polymer material. Therefore, we prepared a water‐insoluble RNA‐inorganic hybrid material by mixing the RNA and a silane coupling reagent, bis(3‐trimethoxysilylpropyl)amine. The RNA‐inorganic hybrid material did not show complete hydrolysis in spite of the incubation with the RNA hydrolysis enzyme Ribonuclease A for 72 hours. In addition, RNA‐inorganic composite material effectively accumulated various metal ions, such as heavy and rare‐earth metal ions. Furthermore, when the Cu(II) ion‐accumulated RNA‐inorganic hybrid material was incubated in an aqueous ascorbic acid solution, dehydroascorbic acid was produced by the oxidative effect of Cu(II) ions in RNA‐inorganic hybrid material.