Thermodynamic and structural study of pyrene-1-carboxaldehyde/DNA interactions by molecular spectroscopy: Probing intercalation and binding properties

The exocyclic carbonyl compound pyren-1-carboxyaldehyde, (1-PyCHO), binds to the ctDNA in an intercalative mode. Two possible angular orientations for intercalation into base-pairs are possible. Induced circular dichroism measurements indicate that the intercalation orientation of 1-PyCHO into DNA could be heterogeneous, that is, multiple binding orientations of the pyren-1-carboxyaldehyde must be involved.