Photocrosslinking of DNA using 4-methylpyranocarbazole nucleoside with thymine base selectivity.

This report describes a novel photocrosslinker, 4-methylpyranocarbazole nucleoside (K), that can be induced to crosslink using visible light. Previously, we reported a visible light-responsive artificial nucleic acid, pyranocarbazole nucleoside (X). K can selectively photocrosslink to thymine bases in a complementary nucleic acid strand.

DNA Photo-cross-linking Using Pyranocarbazole and Visible Light.

This report presents a novel photo-cross-linker that can cross-link to pyrimidines in nucleic acids under visible light irradiation (λ > 400 nm). This method offers ultrafast photo-cross-linking without any cytotoxicity due to UV irradiation.

Occurrence of photoinduced charge separation by the modulation of the electronic coupling between pyrene dimers and chemically converted graphenes.

The photoexcitation of the pyrene dimer on graphene resulted in the final formation of a charge-separated state following an exciplex formation, while that of the pyrene monomer on graphene generated the corresponding exciplex solely due to the difference in the electronic coupling between the pyrene and the graphene.

Preparation of immunostimulatory single-walled carbon nanotube/CpG DNA complexes and evaluation of their potential in cancer immunotherapy.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have many interesting properties. In particular, their photohyperthermic effect by near-infrared (NIR) irradiation could be used to kill cancer cells, and could thus be applied in photohyperthermic therapy. However, the solubility of CNTs must be improved before they can be used in biological applications.

Development of a novel composite material with carbon nanotubes assisted by self-assembled peptides designed in conjunction with β-sheet formation.

A novel composite material is developed with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and artificially designed peptides, and its chemical and physicochemical characteristics are evaluated with an aim toward biomedical application. The peptides were designed to form a β-sheet structure that would be suitable for wrapping SWCNTs. The complex of SWCNTs and peptide (SWCNT-peptide) showed good dispersibility in aqueous media and was considerably stable even in the absence of an excess amount of peptide in the media.