Nucleic acid controlled catalysts of carboxylic esters hydrolysis.

Two Cu(2+)-binding ligands were covalently attached to termini of short DNAs. The optimal compound of this type forms a catalytically inert complex with Cu(2+). In the presence of a complementary nucleic acid the complex is decomposed forming products, which may catalyze hydrolysis of carboxylic acid esters. We have demonstrated that this process can be applied for sequence specific detection of nucleic acids.