Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Science and Technology. Section A. Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol.371, 379-382, 2001
Two-dimensional nucleobase self-organization supported by base-pairing and stacking at the air-water interface
Octadecyl substituted amphiphiles of the four nucleobases, adenine, cytosine, guaine, and thymine (C-18-Ade, C-18-Cyt C-18-Gua, and C-18-Thy, respectively), were prepared. Binary mixtures of these amphiphiles were spread on water surface as monolayer assemblies. Pressure-area isotherms of all pairwise combination of the nucleobase amphiphiles indicate that the Watson-Crick type base-pairings and base-stacking can stabilize monolayers at the air-water interface. Unexpected stabilization was observed in the combination of C-18-Gua and C-18-Thy, which resembles a "wobble" pair in RNA. Langmuir-Blodgett films were prepared on gold substrates for FT-IR measurement of the complementary hydrogen bonding between the nucleobase amphiphiles.
Keywords:Watson-Crick type base-pair;"wobble" base-pair;hydrogen bond;base-stacking;molecular recognition;monolayer