Non-canonical DNA structures: From structural building blocks to chemical applications

Authors

  • Anna Aviñó Institut de Química Avançada de Catalunya (IQAC-CSIC). Departament de Tensioactius i Nanobiotecnologia. Grup de Química d’Àcids Nucleics - Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red - Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Biomedicina (CIBER-BBN)
  • Arnau Domínguez Institut de Química Avançada de Catalunya (IQAC-CSIC). Departament de Tensioactius i Nanobiotecnologia. Grup de Química d’Àcids Nucleics - Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red - Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Biomedicina (CIBER-BBN)
  • Raimundo Gargallo Universitat de Barcelona. Departament d’Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica

  • DOI: 10.2436/20.2003.01.158

Keywords:

Triplex DNA, quadruplex DNA, G-quadruplex, i-motif, chemical analysis

Abstract

Nucleic acids are present in numerous biological processes and have become essential parts in the biomedical field. In addition, their applications are expanding into new areas such as nanotechnology and diagnostics. Many of these applications take advantage of the ability of nucleic acids to adopt diverse spatial structures, some of which differ remarkably from the well-known double helix. This article explores these alternative (or non-canonical) structures, highlights their applications in the chemical field and provides an overview of the research carried out in this area.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2026-01-26

Issue

No. 24 (2025)

Section

Articles

License

The intellectual property of articles belongs to the respective authors.

On submitting articles for publication to the journal Revista de la Societat Catalana de Química, authors accept the following terms:

  1. Authors assign to Catalan Society of Chemistry (a subsidiary of Institut d’Estudis Catalans) the rights of reproduction, communication to the public and distribution of the articles submitted for publication to Revista de la Societat Catalana de Química.
  2. Authors answer to Catalan Society of Chemistry for the authorship and originality of submitted articles.
  3. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for the reproduction of all graphic material included in articles.
  4. Catalan Society of Chemistry declines all liability for the possible infringement of intellectual property rights by authors.
  5. The contents published in the journal, unless otherwise stated in the text or in the graphic material, are subject to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (by-nc-nd) 3.0 Spain licence, the complete text of which may be found at  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/deed.en. Consequently, the general public is authorised to reproduce, distribute and communicate the work, provided that its authorship and the body publishing it are acknowledged, and that no commercial use and no derivative works are made of it.
  6. The journal is not responsible for the ideas and opinions expressed by the authors of the published articles.