Guanine reaction with nucleophile

The reactions of the oxadiazolium ions with nucleophiles such as thiophenolSy guanine, and guanosine resulted in methylation of the nucleophiles (53). Thus, the formation of the oxadiazolium ion creates an electrophilic species not... 

As in the case of pyrimidine bases discussed previously, adenine and guanine are subject to nucleophilic displacement reactions at particular sites on their ring structures (Figure 1.50). Both compounds are reactive with nucleophiles at C-2, C-6, and C-8, with C-8 being the most common target for modification. However, the purines are much less reactive to nucleophiles than the pyrimidines. Hydrazine, hydroxylamine, and bisulfite—all important reactive species with cytosine, thymine, and uracil—are almost unreactive with guanine and adenine. 

Figure 27.4 Reaction of guanine bases with N-bromosuccinimide causes bromination at the C-8 position of the ring. Amine nucleophiles can be coupled to this active derivative by nucleophilic displacement. Reaction of diamine compounds results in amine-terminal spacers that can be further modified to contain detectable components.

The high affinity of many platinum compounds for sulfur and the availability of many sulfur-containing biomolecules have raised the question whether Pt-sulfur biomolecule interactions could serve as a drug reservoir for platination at DNA, necessary for the antitumor activity of cis-Pt. Two reaction paths are possible, i.e., spontaneous release of plantinum from the sulfur, or nucleophilic displacement of platinum from sulfur by guanine (N7), for example. At the moment, there is no real evidence for the existence of such reactivation mechanisms. In fact, it has been reported that Pt-protein interactions in the plasma (albumin) are not reversible under normal conditions (161, 165). Further, a mixture of cis-Pt-methionine products does not show antitumor properties (166), indicating no induced platination of DNA. More research is required to investigate the existence of a reactivation mechanism. However, it is predicted that if such a reactivation phenomenon is operational, the most likely candidate is the labile Pt-methionine bond, as has been shown by its rapid reaction with Naddtc, STS, and thiourea (vide supra) (131). 

The clinical value of the nitrogen mustards lies in the fact that they undergo reaction with certain nucleophilic sites on the heterocyclic aromatic amine bases in DNA (see Chapter 28). For DNA, the most reactive nucleophilic site is N-7 of guanine. Next in reactivity is N-3 of adenine, followed by N-3 of cytosine. 

Amine bases in nucleic acids can react with alkylating agents in typical Sjsj2 reactions. Look at the following electrostatic potential maps, and tell which is the better nucleophile, guanine or adenine. The reactive positions in each are indicated. 

Since the results of our experiments with isolated rat liver fractions supported a reaction sequence Initiated by microsomal oxidation of the nitrosamine leading to formation of a carbonium ion, the results of the animal experiment suggested that in the intact hepatocyte, one of the earlier electrophilic intermediates (II, III or V, Figure 1) is intercepted by nucleophilic sites in DNA (exemplified here by the N7 position of guanine) before a carbocation is formed. 

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