@article{HeckKanehiraKneippetal.2019, author = {Heck, Christian and Kanehira, Yuya and Kneipp, Janina and Bald, Ilko}, title = {Amorphous Carbon Generation as a Photocatalytic Reaction on DNA-Assembled Gold and Silver Nanostructures}, series = {Molecules}, volume = {24}, journal = {Molecules}, number = {12}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1420-3049}, doi = {10.3390/molecules24122324}, pages = {10}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Background signals from in situ-formed amorphous carbon, despite not being fully understood, are known to be a common issue in few-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Here, discrete gold and silver nanoparticle aggregates assembled by DNA origami were used to study the conditions for the formation of amorphous carbon during SERS measurements. Gold and silver dimers were exposed to laser light of varied power densities and wavelengths. Amorphous carbon prevalently formed on silver aggregates and at high power densities. Time-resolved measurements enabled us to follow the formation of amorphous carbon. Silver nanolenses consisting of three differently-sized silver nanoparticles were used to follow the generation of amorphous carbon at the single-nanostructure level. This allowed observation of the many sharp peaks that constitute the broad amorphous carbon signal found in ensemble measurements. In conclusion, we highlight strategies to prevent amorphous carbon formation, especially for DNA-assembled SERS substrates.}, language = {en} } @misc{HeckKanehiraKneippetal.2019, author = {Heck, Christian and Kanehira, Yuya and Kneipp, Janina and Bald, Ilko}, title = {Amorphous Carbon Generation as a Photocatalytic Reaction on DNA-Assembled Gold and Silver Nanostructures}, series = {Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {732}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-43081}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-430812}, pages = {10}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Background signals from in situ-formed amorphous carbon, despite not being fully understood, are known to be a common issue in few-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Here, discrete gold and silver nanoparticle aggregates assembled by DNA origami were used to study the conditions for the formation of amorphous carbon during SERS measurements. Gold and silver dimers were exposed to laser light of varied power densities and wavelengths. Amorphous carbon prevalently formed on silver aggregates and at high power densities. Time-resolved measurements enabled us to follow the formation of amorphous carbon. Silver nanolenses consisting of three differently-sized silver nanoparticles were used to follow the generation of amorphous carbon at the single-nanostructure level. This allowed observation of the many sharp peaks that constitute the broad amorphous carbon signal found in ensemble measurements. In conclusion, we highlight strategies to prevent amorphous carbon formation, especially for DNA-assembled SERS substrates.}, language = {en} } @article{KielarXinXuetal.2019, author = {Kielar, Charlotte and Xin, Yang and Xu, Xiaodan and Zhu, Siqi and Gorin, Nelli and Grundmeier, Guido and M{\"o}ser, Christin and Smith, David M. and Keller, Adrian}, title = {Effect of staple age on DNA origami nanostructure assembly and stability}, series = {Molecules}, volume = {24}, journal = {Molecules}, number = {14}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1420-3049}, doi = {10.3390/molecules24142577}, pages = {12}, year = {2019}, abstract = {DNA origami nanostructures are widely employed in various areas of fundamental and applied research. Due to the tremendous success of the DNA origami technique in the academic field, considerable efforts currently aim at the translation of this technology from a laboratory setting to real-world applications, such as nanoelectronics, drug delivery, and biosensing. While many of these real-world applications rely on an intact DNA origami shape, they often also subject the DNA origami nanostructures to rather harsh and potentially damaging environmental and processing conditions. Furthermore, in the context of DNA origami mass production, the long-term storage of DNA origami nanostructures or their pre-assembled components also becomes an issue of high relevance, especially regarding the possible negative effects on DNA origami structural integrity. Thus, we investigated the effect of staple age on the self-assembly and stability of DNA origami nanostructures using atomic force microscopy. Different harsh processing conditions were simulated by applying different sample preparation protocols. Our results show that staple solutions may be stored at -20 degrees C for several years without impeding DNA origami self-assembly. Depending on DNA origami shape and superstructure, however, staple age may have negative effects on DNA origami stability under harsh treatment conditions. Mass spectrometry analysis of the aged staple mixtures revealed no signs of staple fragmentation. We, therefore, attribute the increased DNA origami sensitivity toward environmental conditions to an accumulation of damaged nucleobases, which undergo weaker base-pairing interactions and thus lead to reduced duplex stability.}, language = {en} } @article{VogelEbelSchuermannetal.2019, author = {Vogel, Stefanie and Ebel, Kenny and Sch{\"u}rmann, Robin Mathis and Heck, Christian and Meiling, Till and Milosavljevic, Aleksandar R. and Giuliani, Alexandre and Bald, Ilko}, title = {Vacuum-UV and Low-Energy Electron-Induced DNA Strand Breaks}, series = {ChemPhysChem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry}, volume = {20}, journal = {ChemPhysChem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry}, number = {6}, publisher = {Wiley-VCH}, address = {Weinheim}, issn = {1439-4235}, doi = {10.1002/cphc.201801152}, pages = {823 -- 830}, year = {2019}, abstract = {DNA is effectively damaged by radiation, which can on the one hand lead to cancer and is on the other hand directly exploited in the treatment of tumor tissue. DNA strand breaks are already induced by photons having an energy below the ionization energy of DNA. At high photon energies, most of the DNA strand breaks are induced by low-energy secondary electrons. In the present study we quantified photon and electron induced DNA strand breaks in four different 12mer oligonucleotides. They are irradiated directly with 8.44 eV vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons and 8.8 eV low energy electrons (LEE). By using Si instead of VUV transparent CaF2 as a substrate the VUV exposure leads to an additional release of LEEs, which have a maximum energy of 3.6 eV and can significantly enhance strand break cross sections. Atomic force microscopy is used to visualize strand breaks on DNA origami platforms and to determine absolute values for the strand break cross sections. Upon irradiation with 8.44 eV photons all the investigated sequences show very similar strand break cross sections in the range of 1.7-2.3x10(-16) cm(2). The strand break cross sections for LEE irradiation at 8.8 eV are one to two orders of magnitude larger than the ones for VUV photons, and a slight sequence dependence is observed. The sequence dependence is even more pronounced for LEEs with energies <3.6 eV. The present results help to assess DNA damage by photons and electrons close to the ionization threshold.}, language = {en} }