Electrochemical Study on the Interaction of Irinotecan with Calf Thymus Double Stranded DNA

Voltammetric behavior of Irinotecan (CPT‐11) was studied in a phosphate buffer (0.002 mol·L^?1, pH 7.5) solution at the hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE) using cyclic voltammetry (CV). CPT‐11 showed two irreversible cathodic peaks at ?1.01 V and ?1.09 V which involved two electrons and two protons in each reduction step. In addition, the interaction of Irinotecan with double‐stranded calf thymus DNA (ds‐DNA) was studied by CV at the HMDE employing an irreversible electrochemical equation. As a result of the reaction with ds‐DNA, the reduction peaks related to CPT‐11 were shifted in a negative direction and the peak currents were decreased. The diffusion coefficients of CPT‐11 in the absence (D_f) and presence (D_b) of ds‐DNA were calculated as 2.8×10^?5 cm²·s^?1 and 1.6×10^?5 cm²·s^?1 respectively. The binding constant (K=1.0×10⁴ L·mol^?1), and binding site size (s=0.60) of CPT‐11 interacting with ds‐DNA were obtained simultaneously by non‐linear fit analysis. The results demonstrate that the main interaction mode of CPT‐11 with ds‐DNA is electrostatic.