Tailor-made molecules, DTAc and ATAc, that incorporate a nucleicbase (adenine or 2,6-diaminopurine) linked by a diamino chain to an intercalator(9-amino-6-chloro-2-methoxyacridine)selectively recognize and efficiently cleave abasic sites in DNA
via a
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
-elimination reaction. The three-dimensional structure of the complexes of DTAc and ATAc bound to a DNAundecamer, the
5'd(C
1G
2C
3A
4C
5X
6C
7A
8C
9G
10C
11)
3'·
3'd(G
22C
21G
20T
19G
18T
17G
16T
15G
14C
13G
12)
5'
duplex in which the Xresi
due is a stable abasic site[3-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydrofuran], has been studiedby combinedNMR-energy minimization methods. Analysis of the NMR spectrareveals that DTAc and ATAc interactwith a very similar fashion and form two different complexes with DNA,present in a ratio of 70/30(±10). In both complexes, the acridine ring intercalatesexclusively between the C3·G20 and A4·T19base pairs, the linker is located in the minor groove, and the basemoiety docks in the abasic site. Theprincipal difference between the major and the minor complexes consistsof a 180
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
rotation of the acridinering around the Acr-C-N bond within the same intercalation site.Molecular modeling studies withfew intermolecular ligand-DNA restraints were used to investigate thegeometry of the base pair formedbetween the diaminopurine of DTAc and the T17 ring. The mostenergetically favored complex has the2,6-diaminopurine of DTAc base paired with the T17 ring in a Hoogsteenconformation. The modelsDTAc and ATAc are also discussed as nuclease mimics and cleaving agentsat abasic sites.