© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018. The inter-strand photo-cross-linking reaction between nucleic acid strands has wide potential for regulating gene expression specifically and spatiotemporally due to its sequence specificity and high photo irradiation operability. Therefore, photo-cross-linkable artificial nucleic acids are required to be specific and effective drugs without adverse effects and also be good tools for investigating gene functions in cells. As one of the most reactive photo-cross-linkable artificial nucleic acids, in this review, 3-cyanovinylcarbazole modified oligodeoxyribonucleotides that can photo-crosslink with their complementary nucleic acid within a few seconds of photoirradiation are examined. The details of the synthetic method, properties and the applications for regulating gene expression in cells are discussed.