RNA Scaffolds

Kumar, Vinit, Kumar, Anil, Vinit Kumar, Anil Kumar

The colloidal method provides an important tool to synthesize different nanostructures and their assemblies. The coating of colloidal inorganic nanostructures by the biotemplate of similar dimension not only provides them the thermodynamic stability but also imparts the chemical features to grow in different dimensionalities and capabilities for molecular recognition. In this chapter we describe detailed methodology for the synthesis and characterization of CdS nanoparticles templated by ribonucleic acid (RNA) derived from torula yeast. The binding of RNA passivates the surface of CdS nanostructures and controls their optical properties. The presence of excess Cd(2+) ions induces the folding and polarization in RNA-mediated CdS to enhance the supramolecular interactions among different building blocks. It produces CdS-based nanostructures of varied morphologies in the process of self-assembly. An interaction of the multi-functionalities of RNA with the excess Cd(2+)/Zn(2+) ions induces the spontaneous folding and polarization in RNA-mediated CdS/ZnS nanostructures and enhances the non-covalent bonding interactions among their building blocks. The self-organization in CdS/ZnS semiconducting nanosystem results in the production of novel tubular morphology.