Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 16, 2025

Analyzing and Building Nucleic Acid Structures with 3DNA
Published on: April 26, 2013
Covalent and noncovalent interactions of coordination compounds with DNA: An overview
Lucia Andrezálová1, Zuzana Országhová2
1Institute of Medical Chemistry, Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Sasinkova 2, 813 72 Bratislava, Slovakia; Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Abstract:
Deoxyribonucleic acid plays a central role in crucial cellular processes, and many drugs exert their effects through binding to DNA. Since the discovery of cisplatin and its derivatives considerable attention of researchers has been focused on the development of novel anticancer metal-based drugs. Transition metal complexes, due to their great diversity in size and structure, have a big potential to modify DNA through diverse types of interactions, making them the prominent class of compounds for DNA targeted therapy. In this review we describe various binding modes of metal complexes to duplex DNA based on covalent and noncovalent interactions or combination of both. Specific examples of each binding mode as well as possible cytotoxic effects of metal complexes in tumor cells are presented.
Related Concept Videos
Noncovalent Attractions in Biomolecules
Four types of noncovalent interactions are hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.
Hydrogen bonding results from the electrostatic attraction of a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to a strong-electronegative atom like oxygen,...
Drug-Receptor Bonds
In...
Valence Bond Theory
Coordination Compounds and Nomenclature
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
Nucleic Acid Structure
DNA Structure
DNA...

