Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 1, 2025

Author Spotlight: Developing Synthetic Cells from Programmable Amphiphilic DNA Nanostructures
Published on: May 31, 2024
Thermodynamic stability of cis-azobenzene containing DNA materials based on van der Waals forces
Lei Zhang1, Han Liu1, Yun Liu2
1Key Laboratory of Optic-electric Sensing and Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, MOE; Shandong Key Laboratory of Biochemical Analysis; College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China. wuzhongtao@qust.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Taking advantage of van der Waals forces, an azobenzene-containing surfactant with a stable cis-state was designed and synthesized to fabricate photoresponsive DNA material. The reported DNA material exhibited reversible liquid crystalline-to-isotropic liquid transition under UV/Vis illuminations via the trans-cis isomerization of azobenzene. It also gained the ability to maintain the isotropic liquid state after UV light had ceased thanks to the thermodynamic stability of the cis-isomer of the azobenzene-containing surfactant. This work provides a design strategy for fabricating photoresponsive phase-change biomaterials.
Related Concept Videos
Stability of Conjugated Dienes
A comparison of the enthalpies of hydrogenation of dienes reveals that conjugated dienes release less heat on hydrogenation, rendering them more stable than their nonconjugated analogs.
Stability of Substituted Cyclohexanes
The two chair conformations of cyclohexanes undergo rapid interconversion at room temperature. Both forms have identical energies and stabilities, each comprising equal amounts of the equilibrium mixture. Replacing a hydrogen atom with a functional group makes the two conformations energetically non-equivalent.
For example, in...
Van der Waals Interactions
Frost Circles for Different Conjugated Systems
Disubstituted Cyclohexanes: cis-trans Isomerism
In cyclohexane, the substituents can occupy different positions generating distinct isomers....
Noncovalent Attractions in Biomolecules
Four types of noncovalent interactions are hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.
Hydrogen bonding results from the electrostatic attraction of a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to a strong-electronegative atom like oxygen,...

