A study by Prof. Giuseppina Raffini has been published on  the cover of «The Journal of Physical Chemistry B», an international journal that publishes experimental, theoretical and computational research in the area of biophysics, biochemistry, biomaterials, and soft matter.

The basic idea is to predict, at an atomistic level, the ordered shape imprinted on the helicenes adsorbed on a chiral surface, such as DNA, just as it is possible to predict, at a macroscopic level, the shape of bronze in statues formed by casts in lost-wax casting, with the detail of a smile, a muscle, and beard filaments as in Greek and Roman statues. A coating of molecules with optical properties would have a dual role. Outside the helicenes can interact with light and show us if geometrically ordered and stable from an energy point of view, their color and shape, while in direct contact with the surface, they can act as a mold of the surface itself, B-DNA, Z-DNA, A-DNA, or other chiral surfaces.
It is encouraging that, using the same methodology, the aggregates formed by the anticancer drug curcumin and two different carriers synthesized by two research groups has recently been studied with interesting agreement with experimental data (Cfr. «Journal of Molecular Liquidsil» and «Polymers»)

Adsorption and Self-Aggregation of Chiral [5]-Aza[6]helicenes on DNA Architecture: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Giuseppina Raffaini
J. Phys. Chem. B 2023, 127, 39, 8285–8295

> View the paper