Cover Picture: Direct Correlation between Molecular Cross‐linking and Macroscopic Mechanical Properties for Green Solids of Deoxyribonucleic Acids (ChemNanoMat 11/2016)

Double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs) were intermolecularly cross-linked using 2,5-hexanedione based on reductive amination induced by 2-picoline borane in aqueous phase. Atomic force microscopy revealed that while DNA chains near cross-linking points were denatured to single-strands, DNA chains not near cross-linking points maintained B-form double-strands, which is the most typical conformation. A transparent, self-supported, and mechanically toughened solid film was obtained from the cross-linked DNAs by a simple solvent-casting method. More information can be found in the Communication by H. Matsuno, K. Tanaka et al. on page 1023 in Issue 11, 2016 (DOI: 10.1002/cnma.201600222).