Enantiomeric sensing and separation by nucleic acids

A cooperation tale of biomolecules and nanomaterials in nanoscale chiral sensing and separation

The cooperative relationship between biomolecules and nanomaterials makes up a beautiful tale about nanoscale chiral sensing and separation. Biomolecules are considered a fabulous chirality 'donor' to develop chiral sensors and separation systems. Nature has endowed biomolecules with mysterious chirality. Various nanomaterials with specific physicochemical attributes can realize the transmission and amplification of this chirality. We focus on highlighting the advantages of combining biomolecules and nanomaterials in nanoscale chirality. To enhance the sensors' detection sensitivity, novel cooperation approaches between nanomaterials and biomolecules have attracted tremendous attention. Moreover, innovative biomolecule-based nanocomposites possess great importance in developing chiral separation systems with improved assay performance. This review describes the formation of a network based on nanomaterials and biomolecules mainly including DNA, proteins, peptides, amino acids, and polysaccharides. We hope this tale will record the perpetual relation between biomolecules and nanomaterials in nanoscale chirality.

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Using Cell-Penetrating Peptide Conjugation, Chemical Modification, and Carrier-Based Delivery Strategies

Oligonucleotide-based therapies are a promising approach for treating a wide range of hard-to-treat diseases, particularly genetic and rare diseases. These therapies involve the use of short synthetic sequences of DNA or RNA that can modulate gene expression or inhibit proteins through various mechanisms. Despite the potential of these therapies, a significant barrier to their widespread use is the difficulty in ensuring their uptake by target cells/tissues. Strategies to overcome this challenge include cell-penetrating peptide conjugation, chemical modification, nanoparticle formulation, and the use of endogenous vesicles, spherical nucleic acids, and smart material-based delivery vehicles. This article provides an overview of these strategies and their potential for the efficient delivery of oligonucleotide drugs, as well as the safety and toxicity considerations, regulatory requirements, and challenges in translating these therapies from the laboratory to the clinic.

Biomacromolecule-Assisted Screening for Reaction Discovery and Catalyst Optimization

Reaction discovery and catalyst screening lie at the heart of synthetic organic chemistry. While there are efforts at de novo catalyst design using computation/artificial intelligence, at its core, synthetic chemistry is an experimental science. This review overviews biomacromolecule-assisted screening methods and the follow-on elaboration of chemistry so discovered. All three types of biomacromolecules discussed─enzymes, antibodies, and nucleic acids─have been used as "sensors" to provide a readout on product chirality exploiting their native chirality. Enzymatic sensing methods yield both UV-spectrophotometric and visible, colorimetric readouts. Antibody sensors provide direct fluorescent readout upon analyte binding in some cases or provide for cat-ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay)-type readouts. DNA biomacromolecule-assisted screening allows for templation to facilitate reaction discovery, driving bimolecular reactions into a pseudo-unimolecular format. In addition, the ability to use DNA-encoded libraries permits the barcoding of reactants. All three types of biomacromolecule-based screens afford high sensitivity and selectivity. Among the chemical transformations discovered by enzymatic screening methods are the first Ni(0)-mediated asymmetric allylic amination and a new thiocyanopalladation/carbocyclization transformation in which both C-SCN and C-C bonds are fashioned sequentially. Cat-ELISA screening has identified new classes of sydnone-alkyne cycloadditions, and DNA-encoded screening has been exploited to uncover interesting oxidative Pd-mediated amido-alkyne/alkene coupling reactions.

Studies on the structure and chirality of A-motif in adenosine monophosphate nucleotide metal coordination complexes

Structure and chirality of A-motif.