Synthesis and DNA cleaving activity of water-soluble non-conjugated thienyl tetraynes Original Research Article

Water-soluble non-conjugated thienyl tetraynes (3–6) were synthesized and their DNA cleaving activity was evaluated using electrophoresis, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) transformation techniques. The amino-functionalized compound 4 was shown to possess an activity to cleave plasmid DNA by both electrophoresis and E. coli transformation techniques. AFM also showed a cleavage of the circular DNA into a linear form with a formation of burst-star-shaped architectures, which were envisaged to be cross-linked DNA oligomers.