Kinamycins mechanism

Abstract Diazonium salts have been previously used to cleave DNA via generation of carbon centered radicals and cations. Efforts have been made in the past decade or so to develop diazo compounds and a-diazoketones for physiologically relevant DNA cleavage. These efforts, coupled with their relevance to the mechanism of action of kinamycin and lomaiviticin antibiotics and other naturally occurring diazo compounds, will be discussed. 

While the successful DNA cleavage with copper(II)acetate establishes the mediacy of a similar activation mechanism with kinamycins, as shown before with 9-diazofluorenes, their mode of action may or may not involve the use of an oxidizing agent under physiological conditions. An important cor-... 

Fig. 24 Reductive alkylation mechanism of interaction of kinamycin C with DNA as originally proposed [67], Nucleophilic (DNA) attack can occur on the Michael acceptor 32 through pathway a or b. The same mechanism should be applicable with the revised diazo structures...

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