We seek to design, synthesize, and understand the sequence-specific hybridization properties of block copolymers and associated materials consisting of TORC-mer strands.
TORC nucleic acid and peptoid
For our templates, we are incorporating TORC moieties (Figure 1) into the DNA backbone (Figure 2), as it is well-characterized with a plethora of computational and experimental data. Optimization of the orientation of TORC moieties will be carried out to result in bioisosteric structures that mimics the canonical DNA secondary structure. Numerous studies have already focused on metal-salen base pair complexes. Thus, we plan to focus on studying other TORC systems, boronate ester, hydrazone condensate, and thiol-conjugate system. Kinetic and thermodynamics analysis will be conducted to ensure proper hybridization of TORC moieties. Much like natural replication systems, mutations occurred for evolution to occur, which were not heavily investigated in previous reports.