A 2-aminothieno[3,4-d]pyrimidine G-mimic deoxyribonucleoside, (th)dG, was synthesized and incorporated readily into oligonucleotides as a versatile fluorescent guanine analogue. We demonstrate that (th)dG enables the visual detection of Z-DNA successfully based on different π-stacking of B- and Z-DNA.

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Ruthenium-catalyzed Heck olefination and Suzuki cross coupling reactions have been developed. When starting with a ruthenium complex [RuCl(2)(p-cymene)](2) as a homogeneous catalyst precursor, induction periods were observed and ruthenium colloids of zero oxidation state were generated under catalytic conditions. Isolated ruthenium colloids carried out the olefination, implying that active catalytic species are ruthenium nanoclusters. To support this hypothesis, ruthenium nanoparticles stabilized with dodecylamine were independently prepared via a hydride reduction procedure, and their catalytic activity was subsequently examined. Olefination of iodobenzene with ethyl acrylate was efficiently catalyzed by the ruthenium nanoparticles under the same conditions, which could be also reused for the next runs. In poisoning experiments, the conversion of the olefination was completely inhibited in the presence of mercury, thus supporting our assumption on the nature of catalytic species. No residual ruthenium was detected from the filtrate at the end of the reaction. On the basis of the postulation, a heterogeneous catalyst system of ruthenium supported on alumina was consequently developed for the Heck olefination and Suzuki cross coupling reactions for the first time. It turned out that substrate scope and selectivity were significantly improved with the external ligand-free catalyst even under milder reaction conditions when compared to results with the homogeneous precatalyst. It was also observed that the immobilized ruthenium catalyst was recovered and reused up to several runs with consistent efficiency. Especially in the Suzuki couplings, the reactions could be efficiently carried out with as low as 1 mol % of the supported catalyst over a wide range of substrates and were scaled up to a few grams without any practical problems, giving coupled products with high purity by a simple workup procedure.

Stereoselective hybrid systems based on metal-assisted catalysis with a chiral biomacromolecule form an attractive research area for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure compounds. Although various methods are available for this purpose, most rely on the use of enzymes, proteins, or RNA. The application of DNA-based hybrid catalysts for enantioselective synthesis emerged only a few years ago. DNA-based hybrid catalysts have been self-assembled from DNA and a metal complex with a specific ligand through supramolecular or covalent anchoring strategies and have demonstrated high stereoselectivity and rate enhancement in Lewis acid catalyzed reactions, such as Diels-Alder, Michael addition, and Friedel-Crafts reactions. For these reactions, cheap and commercially available salmon testes DNA has generally been used. In this Minireview, we summarize recent developments in the area of asymmetric catalysis with DNA-based hybrid catalysts.

Chemotherapy is a widely adopted method for the treatment of cancer. However, its use is often limited due to side effects produced by anti-cancer drugs. Therefore, various drug carriers, including polymeric micelles, have been investigated to find a method to overcome this limitation. In this study, alginate-based, self-assembled polymeric micelles were designed and prepared using alginate-g-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm). Amino-PNIPAAm was chemically introduced to the alginate backbone via carbodiimide chemistry. The resulting polymer was dissolved in distilled water at room temperature and formed self-assembled micelles at 37 °C. Characteristics of alginate-g-PNIPAAm micelles were dependent on the molecular weight of PNIPAAm, the degree of substitution, and the polymer concentration. Doxorubicin (DOX), a model anti-cancer drug, was efficiently encapsulated in alginate-g-PNIPAAm micelles, and sustained release of DOX from the micelles was achieved at 37 °C in vitro. These micelles accumulated at the tumor site of a tumor-bearing mouse model as a result of the enhanced permeability and retention effect. Interestingly, DOX-loaded alginate-g-PNIPAAm micelles showed excellent anti-cancer therapeutic efficacy in a mouse model without any significant side effects. This approach to designing and tailoring natural polymer-based systems to fabricate nanoparticles at human body temperature may provide a useful means for cancer imaging and therapy.