Synthesis of 1H-pyrrolo[3,2-h]quinoline-8-amine derivatives that target CTG trinucleotide repeats.

We describe a new molecular design, synthesis, and investigation of small molecules that bind to CTG trinucleotide repeats in DNA. 1H-Pyrrolo[3,2-h]quinoline-8-amine (PQA) has a tricyclic aromatic system with unique non-linear hydrogen-bonding surface complementary to thymine. We have synthesized a series of PQA derivatives with different alkylamino linkers. These PQAs showed binding to pyrimidine bulge DNAs and CNG (N=T and C) repeats depending on the linker structure, while quinoline derivatives lacking the pyrrole ring showed much lower binding affinity. PQA is a useful molecular unit for both CTG and CCG repeat binding.