Some useful CD applications aiming to investigate the B-Z
conformational change in nucleic acids as well as their inter actions
with a ruthenium complex of potential terapeutic interest are described in this paper.
The results presented here regard:
a) the energetics of the conformational transition from the B
right-handed to the Z left-handed helix in synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides with a cytosine-guanine alternating sequence;
b) The B to Z transition for sequences containing all four
canonical bases and the role of nickel ions and sodium perchlorate
in promoting this tranformation;
c) the inter action of Ru(II)(DMSO)4CI2a. compound exhibiting
a good antitumor activity in animals, with both mononucleosides
and polynucleotides