Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4.2
Essential purine and pyrimidine nucleobases
Figure 4.3
Theoretical binding angles of the nucleobases towards metal ions
that observed in helical duplex DNA. Together these bond-making characteristics
provide a rich basis from which to synthesise supramolecular architectures.
Nucleobases are divided in two groups: purines and pyrimidines (Figure 4.2).
The larger purine moiety provides an increased number of donor sites (e.g. endo-
cyclic N1, N3, N7, N9). Different metal ion coordination patterns establish a range
of possible angles between the metal-ligand bond vectors. Figure 4.3 exhibits pos-
sible coordination angles for purines and pyrimidines, respectively. Deviation from
expected values of these angles between coordinate bond vectors increases the
structural possibilities.
