Photoinduced electron transfer and fluorescence mechanisms in covalently linked polynuclear aromatic-nucleotide complexes

The fluorescence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-nucleic acid complexes is quenched by photoinduced electron transfer mechanisms in aqueous solutions at ambient temperatures. These effects are illustrated with the biologically important compound benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide (BPDE), a mutagenic and carcinogenic metabolite of the environmental pollutant benzo[a]pyrene, which forms covalent mutagenic lesions with 2'-deoxyguanosine (dG) residues in DNA. The dependence of the fluorescence yield and fluorescence decay times of the covalent model adduct (+)-trans- BPDE-N²-dG as a function of temperature and methanol/water composition are described. Because of the sensitivity of the fluorescence of the pyrenyl residue to the polarity of the microenvironment, the magnitude of the fluorescence yield can be used to distinguish between highly hydrophobic (e.g., intercalation) and other more solvent-exposed BPDE- nucleic acid binding sites.