Study of DNA interactions with cyclic chalcone derivatives by spectroscopic techniques

Abstract A series of chalcone derivatives ( 1 – 4 ) were studied. The interaction between these ligands and calf thymus DNA was studied with UV–vis spectrophotometry, fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The binding constants K were estimated at 0.5–4.6 × 10 5  M −1 . All these measurements indicated that the compounds behave as effective DNA-intercalating agents. Electrophoretic separation proved that ligands inhibited topoisomerase I at a concentration of 60 μM.