Dresden 2006 – scientific programme
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AKB: Biologische Physik
AKB 20: Nano-Biomaterials and Devices
AKB 20.7: Talk
Thursday, March 30, 2006, 11:45–12:00, ZEU 255
Rapid Chiral Synthesis of Rigid DNA Building Blocks for Molecular Nanofabrication — •Catherine F. Tardin1, Russell P. Goodman2, Iwan A.T. Schaap1, C. M. Erben2, Richard M. Berry2, Andrew J. Turberfield2, and Christoph F. Schmidt1 — 1Dept. Physics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, NL — 2Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK
The programmability of base-pairing interactions makes DNA an ideal molecule for construction by self-assembly. Practical components for 3D molecular nanofabrication must be simple to produce, stereopure, rigid and adaptable. We report a family of DNA tetrahedra, less than 10nm in size, that can be made in seconds with near-quantitative yield. Their triangulated architecture allows them to support a compressive load: by compressing a DNA tetrahedron by little more than 1 nm with an AFM we have measured the axial compressibility of DNA and have observed the buckling of the double helix under high loads.