The carboxymethylmonobenzocyclooctyne group attached to the 5-position of a 2'-deoxyuridine in DNA allows rapid and efficient copper-free postsynthetic modification as demonstrated with a far-red emitting fluorescent azide probe. Upon labeling strong fluorescence intensity enhancement is observed.

The C-nucleoside based on the hydroxyquinoline ligand (Hq) is complementary to itself and forms stable Hq-Hq pairs in double-stranded DNA. These artificial Hq-Hq pairs may serve as artificial electron carriers for long-range photoinduced electron transfer in DNA, as elucidated by a combination of gel electrophoretic analysis of irradiated samples and time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy. For this study, the Hq-Hq pair was combined with a DNA-based donor-acceptor system consisting of 6-N,N-dimethylaminopyrene conjugated to 2'-deoxyuridine as photoinducible electron donor, and methyl viologen attached to the 2'-position of uridine as electron acceptor. The Hq radical anion was identified in the time-resolved measurements and strand cleavage products support its role as an intermediate charge carrier. Hence, the Hq-Hq pair significantly enhances the electron hopping capability of DNA compared to natural DNA bases over long distances while keeping the self-assembly properties as the most attractive feature of DNA as a supramolecular architecture.

1-(N,N-Dimethylamino)pyrene was applied as chemical photocatalyst for two different organic reactions: Both the photocatalytically driven nucleophilic addition of methanol to 1,1-diphenylethylene and the photocatalytic deprotection of N-phenylsulfonylindole gave the corresponding products in good yields and in a highly sustainable way after short irradiation with high-power LED. This concept can potentially be transferred to other photochemical reactions.

A set of nicotinic acid derived tetrazines were synthesized and evaluated for activity in inverse electron demand Diels-Alder (IEDDA) reactions with various dienophiles. It was found that the performance of these tetrazines is governed by two factors. Theoretical and experimental investigations showed that steric effects may override the energetically predicted order of reactivity. Making a compromise between reactivity and stability a selected tetrazine was incorporated into a deoxynucleotide to afford a bioorthogonalized bulding block enabling IEDDA based tagging schemes of nucleic acids.

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