Targeting DNA with Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry

The design of synthetic molecules that can interact with specific sequences and recognize local DNA conformations remains a high profile and exciting research area due to the enormous impact and diverse applications of these compounds in molecular biology, medicine and biotechnology. We are using a supramolecular approach that uses self-assembly processes to generate libraries of compounds, called dynamic combinatorial chemistry (DCC), to identify new DNA-binding molecules. In contrast to traditional step-wise construction of molecules based on incremental modification of established DNA-binders characterised by X-Ray or NMR spectroscopy, DCC is a process that mirrors the evolution and selection process used by Nature i.e generation of a range of different structures, followed by the selection of the most effective binding partner via a selection and amplification process.