From cisplatin to artificial nucleases--the role of metal ion-nucleic acid interactions in biology.

Metal ions and metal coordination compounds bind to nucleic acids in a variety of ways, ranging from weak electrostatic interactions via hydrogen bonding and/or van der Waals forces to strong covalent binding. Metal ions naturally take part in the formation and the degradation of nucleic acids, and the propensity of certain metal coordination compounds to bind to nucleic acids, notably DNA, is exploited in cancer chemotherapy. Moreover, metal compounds have a wide potential as chemical probes for nucleic acid structures and as tools for nucleic acid processing.