Simultaneous quantitative recognition of all purines including N6-methyladenine via the host-guest interactions on a Mn-MOF

Purine nucleobases are the elementary building blocks of life. In addition to the traditional adenine (A) and guanine (G), only very recently N6-methyladenine (N6-mA) was found as the third purine nucleobase for the construction of eukaryotic organism DNA, and its detection is thus an essential aspect for research in genetic engineering, molecular biology, and life evolution. We show here a manganese metal-organic framework (Mn-MOF) with Mn-centered paddle-wheel secondary building units and a semiconductor feature, which is used as the first MOF material to recognize all three known purine nucleobases, including N6-mA, via host-guest interactions with promising sensibility, selectivity, stability, and reusability and excellent capacity of anti-interference. Theoretical calculations and synchrotron techniques were successfully used to investigate the host-guest structures and interactions and the discrimination process. Our work supplies a new strategy for simultaneous and quantitative nucleobase discrimination and should contribute to the design of new functional MOFs and broaden the applications of MOF materials.