DNA duplexes containing unnatural base-pair surrogates are attractive biomolecular nanomaterials with potentially beneficial photophysical or electronic properties. Herein we report the first X-ray structure of a duplex containing a phen-pair in the center of the double helix in a zipper like stacking arrangement.

This work was carried out in the group of Prof. Christian Leumann.

References:

• P. Roethlisberger, A. Istrate, M. J. Marcaida Lopez, R. Visini, A. Stocker, J.-L. Reymond, C. J. Leumann;
  "X-ray structure of a lectin-bound DNA duplex containing an unnatural phenanthrenyl pair"
  Chem. Commun., 2016, 26(52), 4729; doi:10.1039/C6CC90137A   &
  Chem. Commun., 2016, 26(52), 4749-4752; doi:10.1039/C6CC00374E.