Perfect Strangers: Inorganic Photochemistry and Nucleic Acids

Abstract

The applications of inorganic photochemistry to nucleic acid chemistry are discussed. A brief review of nucleic acid structure is given. Methods for probing DNA using emissive inorganic complexes are discussed. Photoreactions that damage DNA by hydrogen atom transfer from sugar or electron abstraction from guanine are presented. The method of photochemical footprinting using a diplatinum photocatalyst is described. The final section discusses advances in combinatorial selection experiments that increase the urgency for rapid screening methods such as those derived from inorganic photochemistry.