The mechanism of binding of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to nucleic acids: A theoretical investigation

Abstract

AbstractsA kinetic model employing calculated atom and bond localization energies to approximate relative activation energies of reaction is used to analyse previously obtained experimental results for in vitro and in vivo chemical binding of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to nucleic acids. I t is found that in vitro linkage of hydrocarbons to DNA induced by a microsomal hydroxylating system is compatible with mechanisms involving either attack at the most reactive hydrocarbon center or attack at the most reactive hydrocarbon bond. Independent evidence leads us to favor the former mechanism. Further, the limited experimental data for in vivo linkage of hydrocarbons to DNA is found to be consistent with a model involving attack at the most reactive bond of the molecule: the "K region". This model is supported by a close parallelism found between extent of hydrocarbons bound to DNA in vivo and the experimentally determined relative reactivities of their K regions.