Chemistry Letters, Vol.30, No.2, 108-109, 2001
Spiropyran as a regulator of DNA hybridization with reversed switching mode to that of azobenzene
The nitrospirobenzopyran, tethered at the 5'-end of the homothymidine, was thermally isomerized to colored merocyanine, which was converted reversibly to colorless spiropyran by visible light irradiation (lambda > 490 nm). Concurrently with the spiropyran-->merocyanine isomerization, melting temperature of the duplex with its complementary oligonucleotide was changed from 18.0 degreesC to 21.6 degreesC.