A comparison of the base-pair specificities of three phenanthridine drugs using solution spectroscopy.

1. The absorption spectrum of three phenanthridine drugs (ethidium, dimidium and prothidium bromide) bound to natural DNAs of differing G-C content were obtained using a novel mixing scheme and analysed according to the excluded site binding model. 2. Ethidium bromide shows a strong G-C specificity at low binding ratios. especially at low ionic concentration. 3. Dimidium bromide shows a less strong G-C specificity. 4. For both drugs, the binding site size reflects a situation close to nearest-neighbour exclusion. 5. Prothidium shows no specificity in its binding. The binding modes are different than for the other two phenanthridines, and it is suggested that the primary mode is "sideways" intercalation.