Reactivity of monofunctional cis-platinum adducts as a function of DNA sequence.

The purpose of this work was to study the chemical reactivity of monofunctional cis-platinum-nucleic acid adducts as a function of nucleic acid sequence. The first part of the paper deals with the formation of these adducts. It is shown that the ternary nucleic acid-cis-platinum-ethidium bromide complexes in which ethidium bromide and nucleotide residues are cross-linked by cis-platinum, are relatively unstable at 37 degrees C. In the presence of acridine, ethidium bromide (but not cis-platinum) is slowly released which leads to the formation of monofunctional cis-platinum-nucleic acid adducts. After removal of acridine, the monofunctional adducts react further to become bifunctional. The second part of the paper deals with the kinetics of disappearance of the monofunctional adducts in several polynucleotides but not in poly(dG).poly(dC). When the adducts possess a chloride ligand, the limiting step in the cross-linking is the rate of aquation reaction of the chloride ligand. The rate constants are an order of magnitude larger when the monofunctional adducts do not possess a chloride ligand. In both the cases, the rate constants are apparently independent of the nucleic acid sequence.