Binary self-assembly of oligoadenylic acid and oligo(p-phenylenevinylene) having a thymidylic acid at each end

We have reported the self-assembly of nucleotide-attached bolaamphiphiles in aqueous solutions¹⁾. On the other hand, π -conjugated oligomers are one of the attentions in electro-optical chemistry²⁾. In this research, we have synthesized an oligo(p-phenylenevinylene) having a thymidylic acid at each end, and examined its self-assembly and binary self-assembly with complementary oligoadenylic acid (dA20). The self-assembled structures were examined by AFM, FE-SEM, UV and CD spectroscopy. We can find non-helical columnar structures by AFM and FE-SEM observations from the self-assembly of T-OPV-T with diameters of 3.8 nm, which well fits with the molecular length of T-OPV-T. Helical columnar structures are observed from the binary self-assembly of T-OPV-T and dA20, with 5.8nm diameters and 35nm helical pitches. The UV and CD measurements reveal that the formation of complementary A-T base pairs and π- π stacking interaction between the OPV moieties in the binary-self-assembly.