Goldau, Thomas; Murayama, Keiji; Brieke, Clara; Steinwand, Sabrina; Mondal, Padmabati; Biswas, Mithun; Burghardt, Irene; Wachtveitl, Josef; Asanuma, Hiroyuki; Heckel, Alexander
Reversible Photoswitching of RNA Hybridization at Room Temperature with an Azobenzene C-Nucleoside
CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, 21:2845-2854, FEB 9 2015

Photoregulation of RNA remains a challenging task as the introduction of a photoswitch entails changes in the shape and the stability of the duplex that strongly depend on the chosen linker strategy. Herein, the influence of a novel nucleosidic linker moiety on the photoregulation efficiency of azobenzene is investigated. To this purpose, two azobenzene C-nucleosides were stereoselectively synthesized, characterized, and incorporated into RNA oligonucleotides. Spectroscopic characterization revealed a reversible and fast switching process, even at 20 degrees C, and a high thermal stability of the respective cis isomers. The photoregulation efficiency of RNA duplexes upon trans-to-cis isomerization was investigated by using melting point studies and compared with the known D-threoninol-based azobenzene system, revealing a photoswitching amplitude of the new residues exceeding 90% even at room temperature. Structural changes in the duplexes upon photoisomerization were investigated by using MM/MD calculations. The excellent photoswitching performance at room temperature and the high thermal stability make these new azobenzene residues promising candidates for in-vivo and nanoarchitecture photoregulation applications of RNA.

DOI:10.1002/chem.201405840

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