Intercalation between antitumor anthracyclines and DNA as probed by resonance and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

The antiturnor anthracyclincs, idarubicin (IDA ), adrianiycin (ADM), epirubicin (EPI), carminomycin (CAR) and 1 1-deoxycarminornycin (DCM), whose siructural formula includes a substituted hydroxyanthraquirionc chrornophore and a sugar residue, form intercalation complexes with DNA. The stacking interaction between the chromophore and the base-pairs of DNA gives rise to noticeable ciTects on resonance Raman (RR) and surface-enhanced resonance Raman (SERRS) scattering as well as on the absorption (ABS), its second derivative (D2) and fluorescence emission (FEM) spectra.