Ethidium binding to deoxyribonucleic acid: spectrophotometric analysis of analogs with amino, azido, and hydrogen substituents.

Abstract

AbstractThe DNA–ligand interactions of a series of phenanthridinium compounds with various combinations of amino, azido, and hydrogen functions at R3 and R8 were examined to determine the contribution of these particular substituents to ligand binding. Spectrophometric titrations using calf‐thymus DNA emphasized the importance of amino substituents in conferring a strong interaction and also stabilizing the interaction against reversal by high ionic strength. Although azido groups were not as effective as amino groups, they were more effective than hydrogen functions in enhancing the interaction. Furthermore, an amino substitution at R8 was consistently, though only slightly, more effective than an amino substituent at R3. The results from superhelical titrations using plasmid pBR322 DNA demonstrated that analogs with amino and/or azido functions at both R3 and R8 produced the greatest unwinding, and compounds with an amino or an azido function at R8 proved more effective than those with the corresponding amino or azido substituent at R3.