| The field of structural DNA nanotechnology utilizes DNA's powerful base-pairing molecular recognition criteria to help solve real challenges facing researchers in material science and nanotechnology, some of which include synthesis, sensing, catalysis, delivery, storage, optics, electronics, and scaffolding. In it, DNA is stripped away from any of its preconceived biological roles, and is treated as a powerful synthetic polymer. A subarea of research that our group has recently termed supramolecular DNA nanotechnology is emerging, and is proving to be a powerful complement to some of the already established rules of structural DNA nanotechnology. The work within this thesis falls under the umbrella of supramolecular DNA nanotechnology, and can conceptually be divided into three parts. (1) The first deals with the problem of discrete nanopartic1e organization. In it we present an approach for the facile and economical access to libraries of discrete nanoparticle assemblies that are addressable and switchable post-assembly. (2) The second deals with the synthesis of three-dimensional DNA assemblies. In it we present an approach for the facile construction of discrete three-dimensional DNA cages that can be structurally oscillated between pre-defined lengths, and adapt this approach to generate geometrically well-defined DNA columns of modular stiffness. (3) The last part deals with the use of small molecules to reprogram the assembly behavior of DNA. In it we use molecules to address the issue of error-correction, during and after the assembly process, and to facilitate the synthesis of "higher-order" DNA helices composed of more than two DNA strands. This work collectively offers a set of simple solutions to some of the bigger challenges currently facing researchers in DNA nanotechnology, and provides a snapshot of what is to be expected from tehe emerging discipline that is supramolecular DNA nanotechnology. |
