Flexibility Analysis of DNA Nanotubes with Prescribed Circumferences and Their Pearl-Necklace Assemblies with Gold Nanoclusters.

DNA has been demonstrated as a powerful platform for the construction of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) into complex three-dimensional assemblies. Despite extensive research, the physical fundamental details of DNA nanostructures and their assemblies with NPs remain obscure. Here, we report the identification and quantification of the assembly details of programmable DNA nanotubes with monodisperse circumferences of a 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 10 DNA helix and their pearl-necklace-like assemblies with ultrasmall gold nanoparticles, Au nanoclusters (AuNCs), liganded by -S(CH)NH ( = 3, 6, 11).