The influence of intercalator structure on DNA binding strength: the importance of side chain orientation

A naphthothiophene intercalator with a cationic side chain linked to the ring through an ester group (1E) has been shown to bind to DNA almost an order of magnitude more strongly than a similar compound with the side chain linked to the ring through an amide group (1A) (W.D. Wilson, et al., Biophys. Chem. 24, 101-109 (1986]. X-ray crystallographic analysis of these two compounds indicates that both the ester and amide groups are essentially planar but that the amide is twisted approximately 30 degrees out of the aromatic plane of the naphthothiophene while the ester and ring system are co-planar. Proton NMR studies of the DNA complexes of these two compounds indicate that the naphthothiophene ring is intercalated in both 1A and 1E but that the protons of the ring system near the side chain interact with DNA base pairs at the binding site significantly better in 1E than in 1A. The protons next to the ester group on the side chain of 1E are also shifted upfield significantly more on addition of DNA than those of 1A. The large planar area of 1E, thus, allows greater stacking, complex geometry optimization, and dipolar interactions of the ester group with DNA base pairs at the binding site to account for the larger binding constant of this compound relative to 1A.