Electrochemically Induced DNA Cleavage by Copper-Phenanthroline Complex

Abstract

The interaction of copper‐1,10‐phenanthroline (phen) complex with calf thymus DNA has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry at gold electrode. DNA can be efficiently cleaved by electrochemically reduced Cu(phen)$\rm{ {_{2}^{2+}}}$ complex at −0.5 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) in the presence of oxygen without addition of extra reductive agent. Oxygen is required for electrochemically induced DNA cleavage by Cu(phen)$\rm{ {_{2}^{2+}}}$ complex because it serve as a precursor formation of hydrogen peroxide. DNA cleavage is inhibited by bathocuproine and hydroxyl radical scavenges. These results reveal Cu(I) complex and hydroxyl radical are involved in DNA cleavage reaction. The percentage of DNA cleavage is enhanced with increasing electrolysis time and is also dependent on the ratio of Cu(phen)$\rm{ {_{2}^{2+}}}$ to DNA concentration. The cleaved DNA fragments are separated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The experimental results indicate that the method for electrochemically induced DNA cleavage by Cu(phen)$\rm{ {_{2}^{2+}}}$ is simple and efficient.

Interactions of polypyridyl cobalt complexes with DNA studied by rotating electrode methods

“…Many metal complexes have the potential to be developed into novel probes of DNA structure [1][2][3][4][5], and can be used as mediators of duplex DNA cleavage reactions [6][7][8], as anticancer drugs [9] that control the reproduction of DNA in the body of living organs, as electron acceptors and donors for studying long-range electron transfer through DNA films [10][11][12], as hybridization indicators for DNA electrochemical biosensors [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], and as agents for DNA emission labels [22], just to name a few. In the last decades increasing efforts have been devoted to studying the interactions of metal complexes with double-stranded DNAs.…”

The Effect of Ligand Constraints on the Metal-to-Ligand Charge-Tranfer Relaxation Dynamics of Copper(I)−Phenanthroline Complexes: A Comparative Study by Femtosecond Time-Resolved Spectroscopy

“…Copper−phenanthroline complexes have attracted great interest over the past years due to their potential in technologically important applications, such as solar energy conversion, molecular sensing, and photocatalysis. , Of particular interest is the capability of Cu(I)−phenanthroline complexes to act as probes for biological structures. − Owing to the large reducing tendency of the metal center, Cu(I) complexes display charge-transfer transitions in the form of metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) bands, which occur in the visible region of the electronic absorption spectrum . The presence of low-lying MLCT excited states causes the luminescence of these complexes to become very sensitive to their environment, making them ideal probes for studying protein structures and nucleic acid interactions.…”