DNA Binding and Photocleavage Study of Cationic Metalloporphyrins by Spectral Methods

The DNA binding and photocleavage specificities of the Zn(II), Cu(II), Co(III), Mn(III) complexes of 5,10,15-tris(1-methylpyridinium-4-yl)-20-(4-propionoxyphenyl)porphyrin have been studied by using a combination of absorption, fluorescence titration, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), induced circular dichroism (ICD) spectroscopy, thermal DNA denaturation as well as gel electrophoresis experiment. It is found that Cu(II) porphyrin has comparable binding ability with the free base porphyrin while the axial-coordinated Zn(II), Co(III), and Mn(III) porphyrins have lower K_b because of the molecular steric hindrance. However, those metalloporphyrins with lower K_b have similar DNA cleavage efficiencies with the free base porphyrin. This could be best understood by the enhancement of the ¹O₂ productivity which may also result from the steric hindrance of the axial-coordinated metalloporphyrins.