Photoresponsive Formation of an Intermolecular Minimal G-Quadruplex Motif.

The ability of three different bifunctional azobenzene linkers to enable the photoreversible formation of a defined intermolecular two-tetrad G-quadruplex upon UV/Vis irradiation was investigated. Circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopic data showed the formation of G-quadruplexes with K+ ions at room temperature in all three cases with the corresponding azobenzene linker in an E conformation. However, only the para–para-substituted azobenzene derivative enables photoswitching between a nonpolymorphic, stacked, tetramolecular G-quadruplex and an unstructured state after E–Z isomerization.