(331a) Reversible Interactions for Bionanoscale Self-Assembly

The bottom-up construction of new materials is one of the central aims of nanotechnology. The recent synthesis of particle building blocks functionalized with specifically designed oligonucleotides has opened new possibilities for the assembly of networked materials. In this approach, a number of DNA single strands are grafted on the surface of micro-sized particles. The interactions between the particles are controlled by the addition of DNA strands in solution which have complementary sequences of the DNA strands grafted on the particles, the hydrogen bonding is the driving force to form double stranded DNA. The two DNA strands reversibly separate (denature) above a characteristic melting temperature. The motivation of this work is to study the conditions under which the DNA interaction (hydrogen bonding) gives rise to well ordered colloidal crystals, as well as the optimization and ultimate limitations of such DNA particle self-assembly at the nanoscale. The one-component system is being investigated and then the binary and multi-component systems, the independent programmed interactions between each component, will be focused, for example, different particle sizes, DNA-grafted particle mixed with micelles, etc.