In view of the growing interest for the synthesis of metal complexes and their interaction with DNA, we have synthesized and characterized two complexes containing ruthenium as metal center. The complexes are of the type [Ru(dppz)L 4 ](ClO 4 ) 2 where L are biologically important ligands such as pyrazole and dimethylpyrazole. The characterization of these complexes is done by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, elemental analysis and mass spectroscopy. The interaction of these complexes with CT DNA was monitored and binding constants were determined using absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The mode of binding was found to be intercalative for both complexes and was determined using hydrodynamic viscosity studies. The complexes were further studied for photocleavage studies with supercoiled plasmid pBR322 DNA.