Presidential Young Investigator Award/Research in Bioinorganic Chemistry

核酸生物物理和DNA-小分子相互作用的研究将通过构建带有悬挂式DNA嵌入剂的单层电极，并将这些表面暴露在核酸的水溶液中来进行。其具体目的是：1)组装和表征具有已知结合DNA的悬挂功能的单层电极，2)研究DNA与这些电极的结合以及结合核酸的生物物理，3)研究外源金属嵌入物与结合DNA的相互作用，4)研究博莱霉素等结合药物对DNA切割的能量学。在另一个单独但相关的项目中，将使用各种聚合物修饰电极的新技术来构建金属酶模型。在这些体系中，电子继电器将由电极提供，蛋白质环境将由聚合物薄膜模拟。北卡罗来纳州立大学的H.霍尔登·索普博士作为总统青年研究员，得到了无机化学、生物无机化学和金属有机化学项目的支持。索普博士的项目是生物无机化学领域，其主要目标是提高我们对金属络合物与DNA相互作用的理解，并对氧化还原金属酶的结构和功能进行建模。在制备化学修饰电极方面的最新进展将得到广泛应用。

Nucleic acid biophysics and DNA-small molecule interactions will be investigated by constructing monolayer electrodes with pendant DNA intercalators such as ethidium and exposing these surfaces to aqueous solutions of nucleic acid. The specific aims are: 1) to assemble and characterize monolayer electrodes with pendant functionalities known to bind DNA, 2) to study the binding of DNA to these electrodes and the biophysics of the bound nucleic acid, 3) to study the interactions of exogenous metallointercalators with the bound DNA, and 4) to investigate the energetics of DNA cleavage by bound drugs such as bleomycin. In a separate but related project use will be made of the diverse, new technology of polymer-modified electrodes to construct model metalloenzymes. In these systems, the electron relay will be provided by the electrode, and the protein environment will be simulated by the polymer film. %%% Dr. H. Holden Thorp of North Carolina State University is supported as a Presidential Young Investigator by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program. Dr. Thorp's project is in the area of bioinorganic chemistry and has the key goals of improving our understanding of the interactions of metal complexes with DNA and modeling the structure and function of redox metalloenzymes. Extensive application of recent advances in the preparation of chemically modified electrodes will be made.