Turn On of a Ruthenium(II) Photocatalyst by DNA-Templated Ligation

Here, the synthesis of a Ru^II photocatalyst by light-directed oligonucleotide-templated ligation reaction is described. The photocatalyst was found to have tremendous potential for signal amplification with >15000 turnovers measured in 9 hours. A templated reaction was used to turn on the activity of this ruthenium(II) photocatalyst in response to a specific DNA sequence. The photocatalysis of the ruthenium(II) complex was harnessed to uncage a new precipitating dye that is highly fluorescent and photostable in the solid state. This reaction was used to discriminate between different DNA analytes based on localization of the precipitate as well as for in cellulo miRNA detection. Finally, a bipyridine ligand functionalized with two different peptide nucleic acid (PNA) sequences was shown to enable template-mediated ligation (turn on of the ruthenium(II) photocatalysis) and recruitment of substrate for templated photocatalysis.