Cu II -mediated DNA base pairing of a triazole-4-carboxylate nucleoside prepared by click chemistry.

Artificial metal-mediated DNA base pairing is a promising strategy for creating highly functionalized DNA supramolecules. Here we report a novel ligand-type triazole-4-carboxylate (TazC) nucleoside that is readily prepared by the click reaction. TazC nucleosides were found to form a stable TazC-Cu II -TazC base pair inside DNA duplexes, resulting in Cu II -specific duplex stabilization (Δ T m = +7.7 °C). This study demonstrates that the triazole derivatives are useful in the development of metal-mediated base pairing.