Biological activities and spectroscopic properties of chromophoric and fluorescent analogs of adenine nucleoside and nucleotides, 2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrocyclohexadienylidene) adenosine derivatives.

The ribose-modified chromophoric and fluorescent analog of ATP 2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrocyclohexadienylidene) adenosine 5'-triphosphate (TNP-ATP) has been synthesized previously (Hiratsuka, T., and Uchida, K. (1973) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 320, 635-647 and Hiratsuka, T. (1976) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 453, 293-297). In the present study, four TNP-derivatives of ATP, ADP, AMP and adenosine were synthesized and compared for several chemical, spectral and enzymatic properties. Their visible absorption and fluorescent properties were found to be quite similar. Visible absorption and fluorescence spectra of TNP-derivatives were sensitive to solvent polarity. TNP-adenosine and TNP-AMP showed considerable substrate activities with adenosine deaminase and alkaline phosphatase, respectively. TNP-ATP proved to be an excellent substitute for ATP in adenylate kinase and myosin ATPase systems. The results indicate that these analogs are useful as chromophoric and fluorescent probes for hydrophobic regions in adenine nucleoside and nucleotide requiring enzymes.