Templated Polymerization of Nucleobase Complexes via Molecular Recognition.

Macromolecules have a strong tendency to interact with each other in solution to form a supramolecular structure through various secondary binding forces. In this study, nucleobase-containing templates poly(9-(4-vinylbenzyl)adenine) (PS AH) and poly(1-(4-vinylbenzyl)cytosine) (PS CH) are prepared by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Vinylbenzyl thymine (MS T) is polymerized in the presence of these two nucleobase-containing templates. MS T shows higher affinities toward the template PS AH compared with the template PS CH. In accordance with the Watson-Crick pairing principle, thymine forms hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) with adenine, but not between thymine and cytosine. A complex is formed when PS AH is used as template which indicates that there is a template polymerization of nucleobase complexes via molecular recognition.