A team of scientists led by K R Dunbar of Texas A&M University (College Station) and C Turro of Ohio State University (Columbus) has warned against making the assumption that light-switching behaviour verifies DNA intercalation.

In a study which appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers have been able to provide the first example of a non-intercalating metallic complex and demonstrate that light switch behaviour is not always a confirmation of intercalation.

They found that ruthenium complex 1 behaves as a DNA light switcher, and that its emission in water can be strengthened 40 times by binding with calf thymus DNA.

However, they were able to prove it was not an intercalator through showing that adding greater amounts of herring sperm DNA did not increase the viscosity of the solution.

Source:

Noteworthy Chemistry, 17/02/08
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=840&content_id=WPCP_008466&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1

© Adfero Ltd