Molecular recognition

Molecular recognition is one of the basic concepts of supramolecular chemistry . It differs from the usual binding between molecules with selectivity. Molecular recognition is based on the presence of one molecule (receptor, or “host”) of a site for selective binding to another molecule (ligand, or “guest”). For this, the receptor and ligand must be complementary, that is, structurally and energetically correspond to each other.

Molecular recognition involves storing (at the molecular level) and reading (at the supramolecular level) information. That is why it plays an important role in biological systems. In antibodies and enzymes , binding selectivity is determined by the specific set and location of amino acid residues in the active center of the protein , in DNA and RNA, by the nucleotide sequence. Modern methods of chemistry and molecular biology make it possible to create oligopeptide and oligonucleotide sequences (aptamers ) capable of highly selectively binding to certain substances.

Molecular recognition underlies the self-assembly of some nanostructures. In particular, the complementarity of nucleic bases is used to construct nanostructures based on DNA fragments.

• Aptamers
• Biosensor
• Hydrogen bond
• DNA probe
• DNA microchip
• Gene delivery
• Drug delivery
• Molecular imprinting
• Proteomics
• Receptor
• RNA interference
• Self assembly
• Supramolecular chemistry
• V (D) J-recombination
• Targeting (medicine)

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• Steed D.V. , Atwood D.L. , Supramolecular Chemistry. In two volumes. Moscow, Academic Book, 2007. Volume 1. 480 s. Volume 2. 416 c.
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• He Y. et al. Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Symmetric Supramolecular Polyhedra // Nature. 2008. V. 452, No. 7184. P. 198-201.