DNA sequence motifs for structure-specific recognition and separation of carbon nanotubes

Xiaomin Tu, Suresh Manohar, Anand Jagota and Ming Zheng ()
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Xiaomin Tu: DuPont Central Research and Development, Wilmington, Delaware 19880, USA
Suresh Manohar: Department of Chemical Engineering and,
Anand Jagota: Department of Chemical Engineering and,
Ming Zheng: DuPont Central Research and Development, Wilmington, Delaware 19880, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 460, issue 7252, 250-253

Abstract: Sorting nanotubes with DNA The methods so far developed for the production of carbon nanotubes generate mixtures of metallic and semiconducting tubes, with differing diameters and chiralities. For nanotubes to be of practical use, in electronics for example, it is important to be able to purify single species so that their properties can be properly determined. It is proving very difficult to disentangle these mixtures but a team working at DuPont's Wilmington research labs and at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has recruited DNA to the cause with promising results. They find that specially tailored DNA sequences, consisting of repeats of one purine plus one or more subsequent pyrimidines, can purify every single species in a nanotube mixture. Through theory they also show that these DNA sequences form particularly stable three-dimensional barrel structures when wrapped around a nanotube, which could be responsible for the selectivity.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08116

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