Self-Assembly of Nucleobase, Nucleoside and Nucleotide Coordination Polymers: From Synthesis to Applications

With multiple metal binding sites, nucleobases, nucleosides, and nucleotides form various coordination polymers (CPs) with metal ions. These self-assembled materials are very interesting for their simplicity to prepare, highly tunable structure and properties, and excellent biocompatibility. Polymerization is achieved under ambient conditions without the need of free radical initiators or UV light. Different nucleobases have different metal-binding preferences, but in general most of their coordination sites prefer borderline or soft metals, while the phosphate groups in the nucleotides prefer hard Lewis acids. In this Focus Review, recent developments in this field are summarized starting from the synthesis and characterization of these CPs. Various metal ions including gold, silver, lanthanides, zinc, copper, and iron are individually reviewed, and each metal brings its own property into the CP materials. While most of these materials are non-crystalline nanoparticles, under certain conditions crystalline metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and hydrogels can also be prepared. The applications of such CPs are then described including enzyme entrapment, drug loading and delivery, biosensor development, catalysis, coating of nanoparticles, and luminescence. Finally, future research opportunities of this field are discussed.