Researchers at the Aragon Nanoscience and Materials Institute (INMA), a joint centre of the CSIC and the University of Zaragoza, together with other members of the group and collaborators from Heidelberg University, have developed a new strategy that enables the controlled attachment and detachment of molecules to DNA nanostructures, opening new possibilities for designing nanodevices capable of changing and adapting to their environment.
The study, led by Silvia Hernández & Jesús del Barrio, researchers from the INMA’s CLIP group, together with other members of the team, has just been published in Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), one of the leading international journals in the field of chemistry, with an impact factor of 16.6.
DNA origami takes advantage of the properties of DNA to build extremely small structures with pre‑designed shapes and functions. These nanostructures can be modified by incorporating other molecules that provide new properties, something particularly relevant for future biomedical applications.
However, many of the techniques used to date generate permanent bonds. In this work, INMA researchers have developed an alternative based on dynamic covalent chemistry that functions, in simplified terms, as a kind of “chemical Velcro”: it allows specific molecules to be attached to DNA origami and subsequently removed in a controlled manner.
To achieve this, the team used iminoboronate chemistry and demonstrated that it is possible to reversibly incorporate molecules such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) or cholesterol into these nanostructures.
One of the most interesting results of the study is that the researchers also succeeded in reversibly anchoring DNA origami to lipid membranes, which share certain characteristics with the membranes surrounding our cells.
The ability to add and remove molecules from these structures without destroying them opens the door to the design of more dynamic, programmable and adaptable nanomaterials. In the long term, this type of tool could be of interest for developing new biomimetic systems and nanodevices capable of interacting in a controlled manner with biological environments.
The study, entitled Dynamic Covalent Functionalization of DNA Origami, has been published in Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).
Scientific publication: “Dynamic covalent functionalization of DNA origami via iminoboronate chemistry”
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6c08320
Alejandro Postigo, Enrique Guerreiro, Joseba Ruiz, M. Sofía Navarrete-Burgos, William Verstraeten, Kerstin Göpfrich, Silvia Hernández-Ainsa, Jesús del Barrio
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Accepted, 28th July 2026
