The Assembly of DNA Amphiphiles at Liquid Crystal-Aqueous Interface

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 6; no. 12; p. 229
• Main Authors: Zhou, Jingsheng, Dong, Yuanchen, Zhang, Yiyang, Liu, Dongsheng, Yang, Zhongqiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.12.2016; MDPI
• Subjects: Anchoring; Assembly; Communication; Deoxyribonucleic acid; detection; DNA amphiphiles; Forming; interface; Lipids; liquid crystal; Liquid crystals; Liquids; Nanomaterials; Optical transition; self-assembly; DNA amphiphiles; self-assembly; detection; interface; liquid crystal
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano6120229

In this article, we synthesized a type of DNA amphiphiles (called DNA-lipids) and systematically studied its assembly behavior at the liquid crystal (LC)-aqueous interface. It turned out that the pure DNA-lipids at various concentrations cannot trigger the optical transition of liquid crystals from planar anchoring to homeotropic anchoring at the liquid crystal-aqueous interface. The co-assembly of DNA-lipid and l-dilauroyl phosphatidylcholine (l-DLPC) indicated that the DLPC assembled all over the LC-aqueous interface, and DNA-lipids prefer to couple with LC in certain areas, particularly in polarized and fluorescent image, forming micron sized net-like structures. The addition of DNA complementary to DNA-lipids forming double stranded DNA-lipids caused de-assembly of DNA-lipids from LC-aqueous interface, resulting in the disappearance of net-like structures, which can be visualized through polarized microscope. The optical changes combined with DNA unique designable property and specific interaction with wide range of target molecules, the DNA-lipids decorated LC-aqueous interface would provide a new platform for biological sensing and diagnosis.