Addressable terminally linked DNA-CNT nanowires

Despite many advances in carbon nanotube (CNT) research, several issues continue to plague the field with regard to the construction of well-defined hybrid CNT materials. Regiospecific covalent functionalization, nonspecific surface absorption, and carbon nanotube aggregation/bundling present major difficulties when working with these materials. In this communication, we circumvent these problems and report a new addressable hybrid material composed of single-walled carbon nanotubes terminally linked by oligonucleotides into a nanowire motif. We show that the oligonucleotide junctions are addressable and can be targeted by gold nanoparticles.