The reactions of Pd(II) ions with a series of chelate-tethered derivatives of adenine and guanine have been studied and reveal a difference in the reactivity of the purine bases. Reactions of [PdCl2(MeCN)2] and A-alkyl-enH x Cl (alkyl = propyl or ethyl, A adenine, en = ethylenediamine) yield the monocationic species [PdCl(A-N3-Et-en)]+ (1) and [PdCl(A-N3-Pr-en)]+ (2). Both involve co-ordination at the minor groove site N3 of the nucleobase as confirmed by single-crystal X-ray analysis. Reactions with the analogous G-alkyl-enH x Cl derivatives (G=guanine, alkyl = ethyl or propyl) were more complex with a mixture of species being observed. For G-Et-en HCI a product was isolated which was identified as [PdCl(G-C8-Et-en)]+ (3). This compound contains a biomolecular metal-carbon bond involving C8 of the purine base. Crystallography of a product obtained from reaction of G-Pr-enH x Cl and [Pd(MeCN)4][NO3]2 reveals an octacationic tetrameric complex (4), in which each ligand acts to bridge two metal ions through a combination of a tridentate binding mode involving the diamine and N3 and monodentate coordination at N7.

The crystal and molecular structure of a copper complex prepared by reaction of metal salt with the nucleobase-ligand conjugate, ethylenediamine-Nr9-propyladenine, reveals the unprecedented coordination of adenine-N3.

Dithioether- or diamine-tethered adenine derivatives react with Pt(II), Pd(II), and Rh(III) ions to give N3-coordinated complexes of the types [MCl(SSN)](+) (M = Pt or Pd), [RhCl(3)(SSN)], or [RhCl(3)(NNN)] (where SSN = 1-(N9-adenine)-3,6-dithia-heptane or 1-(N9-adenine)-4,7-dithia-octane; NNN = ethylenediamine-N,9-ethyladenine). Single-crystal X-ray analysis confirms the nature of the metal-nucleobase interaction and highlights a conserved intermolecular hydrogen-bonding motif for all the complexes, irrespective of the metal-ion geometry. Coordination significantly reduces the basicity of the adeninyl group, as indicated by a pK(a) value of -0.16 for [PtCl(N3-1-(N9-adenine)-3,6-dithia-heptane)]BF(4), compared to a pK(a) value of 4.2 for 9-ethyladenine. The site of proton binding, N1 or N7, could not be unambiguously assigned from the (1)H NMR data, because of the similar effect on the chemical shifts of the H2 and H8 protons. Density functional calculations at the BP-LACVP level suggest N1 as the site of protonation for this type of complex. This is in contrast to the N7-protonation reported for [Pt(dien)(N3-6,6',9-trimethyladenine)](2+), as reported elsewhere (Meiser et al., Chem.-Eur. J. 1997, 3, 388). However, further electronic structure calculations in the gas phase reveal that the preferred site for protonation for N3-bound complexes is conformationally dependent. N3 coordination was also found to reduce the extent of base pairing between adenine and thymine in dimethylsulfoxide for the self-complementary complex [PtCl(L3)](+) (L3 = 1-(N9-adenine)-3,6-dithia-9-(N1-thymine)nonane), compared to that for the uncomplexed ligand.

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18] Suitable crystals were obtained from a mixture of 5, p-xylene, and 2-propanol. C,,H,,O,Si,.M =1323 8, triclinic, space group PT, a =12.0928 (5),(1) were used. The data were collected at 21 "C using a Enraf-Nonius-CAD4 automatic diffractometer and analyzed using the Enraf-Nonius SDPjVAX package. The structure was solved by direct methods. Crystallographic data (excluding structure factors) for the structure reported in this paper have been deposited with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre as supplmentary publication no. CCDC-100 399. Copies of the data can be obtained free of charge on application to