Progress in the Synthesis of DNA-Like Double Strand Polymers

Abstract

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic material determining the makeup of all living cells and many viruses. DNA has a self-replicating feature which consists of two polynucleotide chains in the form of a double helix. The synthesis of DNA-like double strand polymers has attracted much attention over recent years due to the development of self-assembly chemistry and organic synthesis technology. The synthesis of double strand polymers divided by the interaction including non-covalent bonding and covalent bonding between linker and backbone is sumarized. Poly-norbornene which could be performed as effcient backbone is also described. A series of isotactic double strand polymeric ladderphanes have been successfully acheived based on such poly-norbornene backbone.