Intercalation of an acridine

Several complexes that involve intercalation of an acridine in a portion of a nucleic acid have been studied by X-ray crystallographic techniques. These include complexes of dinucleoside phosphates with ethidium bromide, 9-aminoacridine, acridine orange, proflavine and ellipticine (65-69). A representation of the geometry of an intercalated proflavine molecule is illustrated in Figure 6 (b) this is a view of the crystal structure of proflavine intercalated in a dinucleoside phosphate, cytidylyl- -S ) guano-sine (CpG) (70, TV). For comparison an example of the situation before such intercalation is also illustrated in Figure 6 (a) by three adjacent base pairs found in the crystal structure of a polynucleotide (72, 73). In this latter structure the vertical distance (parallel to the helix axis) between the bases is approximately... 

Intercalation Acridines Intercalation of an acridine molecule between two layers of base pairs in DNA... 

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