CRC: DNA Photonics

Frederick D. Lewis, George C. Schatz, Michael R. Wasielewski（均来自西北大学），Torsten Fiebig（波士顿学院）和Alexander L. Burin（杜兰大学）共同支持对DNA电子结构的研究。更具体的目标包括在基态和电子激发态下研究短的、定义良好的双碱基对域的核和电子结构；并对双畴氧化或还原时发生的结构和电子变化进行了研究。该团队将研究定制设计的发夹和哑铃结构中的短稳定碱基对结构域。广泛的最先进的时间分辨光谱，计算和结构技术将被用来探索DNA的结构变化是如何耦合到它的激发态和离子态的性质。实验方法包括分子设计和合成、光谱学、时间分辨瞬态吸收光谱、时间分辨EPR光谱、分子动力学、时间分辨圆二色性和电子结构计算。David Tiede（阿贡国家实验室）也将与团队合作，并带来时间分辨衍射技术的专业知识。DNA的结构和功能完整性对其在生物学中的作用至关重要，因此该项目将为光和化学试剂如何在DNA中引入反应位点，从而改变其结构并可能改变其功能提供基础信息。此次合作的预期成果包括阐明中性和电离短DNA碱基对结构域的性质，在重要的跨学科领域培养本科生和研究生，并为具有不同经验和不同研究环境的研究人员之间的联锁合作提供模型。本项目由化学合作研究计划资助。

Frederick D. Lewis, George C. Schatz, Michael R. Wasielewski (all at Northwestern University), Torsten Fiebig (Boston College) and Alexander L. Burin (Tulane University) are jointly supported for research into the electronic structure of DNA. More specific objectives include the investigation of the nuclear and electronic structure of short, well-defined duplex base pair domains in both the ground and electronically excited states; and investigation of the structural and electronic changes which occur upon the oxidation or reduction of duplex domains. The team will study short stable base pair domains in custom-designed hairpin and dumbbell structures. A wide range of state-of-the-art time-resolved spectroscopic, computational, and structural techniques will be used to probe how the structural changes within DNA are coupled to the properties of excited and ion states within it. Experimental approaches include molecular design and synthesis, spectroscopy, time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy, time-resolved EPR spectroscopy, molecular dynamics, time-resolved circular dichroism, and electronic structure calculations. David Tiede (Argonne National Laboratory) will also collaborate with the team and bring expertise in time-resolved diffraction techniques. The structural and functional integrity of DNA is critical to its role in biology, so that this project will provide fundamental information on how light and chemical agents introduce reactive sites within DNA, which change its structure and potentially alter its function. The anticipated outcomes of this collaboration include elucidation of the properties of neutral and ionized short DNA base-pair domains, training of undergraduate and graduate students in an important interdisciplinary area, and providing a model for interlocking collaboration among investigators with varying experience and in different research environments. This project is supported by the Collaborative Research in Chemistry Program.