DNA-organic molecular amphiphiles: Synthesis, self-assembly, and hierarchical aggregates

Abstract

With the development of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) nanotechnology, various DNA nanostructures and DNA devices have been constructed, which exhibit potential applications in material science and biomedicine. Taking advantage of the programmability and biocompatibility of DNA, novel building block to chemically functionalize DNA with hydrophobic organic molecules has attracted more and more attention. Driving by amphiphilicity, DNA-organic molecular amphiphiles have been demonstrated to self-assemble or further induce hierarchically assemblies, providing novel-specific properties. In this minireview, we summarize the recent progress of DNA organic molecular amphiphiles including their synthesis, self-assembly behavior in aqueous solution, and the amphiphilic self-assembly based on hierarchical DNA nano-structures. We further briefly discuss the perspective of the application of the DNA-organic molecular amphiphiles.