The telomeric sequence (T
2G
4)
4 was platinated in aqueous solutions containing 50 mM LiClO
4,NaClO
4, or KClO
4. The identification of the guanines which reacted with [Pt(NH
3)
3(H
2O)]
2+ revealedthat the same type of folding exists in the presence of the three cations and that the latter determine therelative stabilities of the G-quadruplex structures in the order K
+ > Na
+ Li
+. The tri-ammine complexyielded ca. 40-90% of adducts, mono- and poly-platinated, bound to 4 guanines out of the 16 guaninesin the sequence, in the decreasing amounts G9 > G15
G3 > G21. The formation of these adducts wasinterpreted with a G-quadruplex structure obtained by restrained molecular dynamics (rMD) simulationswhich confirms the schematic model proposed by Williamson et al. [(1989)
Cell 59, 871-880]. Thebifunctional complexes
cis- and
trans-[Pt(NH
3)
2(H
2O)
2]
2+ also first reacted with G9 and G15 and gavecross-linked adducts between two guanines, which did not exceed 5% each of the products formed. Boththe cis and trans isomers formed a G3-G15 platinum chelate, and the second also formed bis-chelates atboth ends of the G-quadruplex structure: G3-G15/G9-G21 and G3-G15/G9-G24. The rMD simulationsshowed that the cross-linking reactions by the trans complex can occur without disturbing the stacking ofthe three G-quartets.