Destabilizing Effect of Organo Ru(II) Salts on the Intermolecular Parallel CGG Repeat DNA Quadruplex Associated with Neurodegenerative/Neuromuscular Diseases.

The cationic organo ruthenium(II) salts ([Ru(-cymene)(ipit)(Cl)](Cl) (), 1-isopropyl-3-(pyridin-2-yl)-imidazol-2-thione (ipit) and [Ru(-cymene)(ipis)(Cl)](Cl) (), 1-isopropyl-3-(pyridin-2-yl)-imidazol-2-selenone (ipis)) are isolated, and their binding efficacy with d(CGG) quadruplex is investigated. Circular dichroism (CD) wavelength scan titration experiments of and compounds with the intermolecular parallel quadruplex formed by d(CGG) (associated with neurodegenerative/neuromuscular/neuronal intranuclear inclusion disorders like FXTAS, OPMD, OPDM types 1-4, and OPML as well as FXPOI) and with the control d(CGG)·d(CCG) duplex indicate their specificity toward the former. Electrophoretic mobility shift titration experiments also confirm the binding of the ligands with d(CGG). CD thermal denaturation experiments indicate that both and destabilize the quadruplex, specifically at 10 mM concentration of the ligands. This is further confirmed by 1D H NMR experiments. Such a destabilizing effect of these ligands on the d(CGG) quadruplex indicates that and chalcogen complexes can act as a template for the design of novel molecules for the diagnostics and/or therapeutics of CGG repeat expansion-associated diseases.