DNA-binding and cleavage activity of a new alkoxo and acetate-bridged dinuclear copper(II) complex

Abstract

Abstract A new copper complex, [Cu2L(OAc)(CH3OH)] · CH3OH, where H3L is 1,3-bis(5-methylsalicylideneimino)propan-2-ol, has been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR, ES-MS, and UV-Vis techniques. The coordination polyhedra of copper(II) can be described as a tetrahedron and a planar quadrilateral. The interaction between the complex and calf thymus DNA/DNA was investigated by UV-Vis, fluorescence, circular dichroism spectra, and viscosity. All the results show that the interaction mode of the complex with DNA is intercalative with a binding constant of 1.16 × 105 (mol L−1)−1 and linear Stern–Volmer quenching constant of 4.89 × 102 (mol L−1)−1, respectively. Agarose gel electrophoresis exhibits that the complex can transform supercoiled to nicked form and exhibits effective DNA-cleavage activity via hydrolytic-cleavage mechanism. Keywords: Crystal structureDNA-cleavage activitiesDNA-binding Acknowledgments We are grateful to the National Nature Science Foundation of China (grant Nos. 20871097, 20971102, and 21171135) for the financial support.