CAREER: Synthesis and Characterization of Metal-Containing PNA

这个由无机，生物无机和有机化学计划的职业奖是支持教授卡塔利纳阿奇姆在麦基梅隆大学创建超分子，含有过渡金属离子和基于肽核酸（PNA），这是DNA的合成类似物。 PNA双链体中的核碱基的配体取代赋予对金属离子的亲和力，并将金属离子结合到这些双链体中的预定位置。 拟议的研究涉及新的PNA单体，含有配体的合成，制备的PNA寡聚体和双链体，并通过光谱方法的金属-PNA的表征。 本研究的主要目的是描述影响PNA结构形成和稳定性的因素，其中过渡金属离子被纳入。 从这些研究中获得的信息将用于实现合理设计分子电子学金属基器件的长期目标。 拟议的研究是在生物有机和无机化学之间的接口开发，并为学生提供了一个独特的机会，以获得广泛的化学观点。 新的跨学科课程，桥梁这一领域与超分子化学和艺术也将开发。 在这些课程中，将采用项目导向的方法作为教学工具，学生创建的一些项目将用于向公众传播化学科学。

This CAREER award by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program is to support Professor Catalina Achim at Carnegie-Mellon University to create supramolecules that contain transition metal ions and are based on peptide nucleic acids (PNAs), which are synthetic analogues of DNA. Ligand substitution of nucleobases in PNA duplexes confer affinity for metal ions and direct the metal ion binding to predetermined positions in these duplexes. The proposed research involves the synthesis of new PNA monomers that contain ligands, preparation of the PNA oligomers and duplexes, and the characterization of the metal-PNAs by spectroscopic methods. The primary goals of the research is to delineate the factors that influence the formation and stability of PNA structures in which the transition metal ions are incorporated. Information obtained from these studies will be used to achieve the long-term goal of rational design of metal-based devices for molecular electronics. The proposed research is developed at the interface between bio-organic and -inorganic chemistry and offers students a unique opportunity to garner a wide perspective of chemistry. New interdisciplinary courses that bridge this field with Supramolecular Chemistry and with Art will also be developed. A project-oriented approach will be used as pedagogic tool in these courses and some of the projects created by the students will be used to disseminate chemical science to the general public.