A spectroscopic probe of stacking interactions between nucleic acid bases and tryptophan residues of proteins.

The external heavy atom effect of mercury on the spectroscopic properties of the indole ring has been used to investigate stacking interactions of tryptophan with mercurinucleotides in mixed aggregates formed in frozen aqueous solutions as well as in oligopeptide-polynucleotide complexes. This effect is characterized at 77 K by a quenching of the tryptophan fluorescence, an enhancement of the phosphorescence emission and a drastic shortening of the phosphorescence lifetime. These phenomena result from an enhanced spin-orbit coupling due to a close contact between the mercury atom and the indole ring. Dissociation of the complexes leads to a recovery of the spectroscopic properties of the free tryptophan ring. The possible use of this spin-orbit probe to provide evidence for stacking interactions in protein-nucleic acid complexes is discussed.