Abstract
RECENTLY, Blake and Peacocke1 reported the appearance of an induced Cotton effect in the complex of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) with proflavine. The magnitude of the trough at 452 mµ was almost twice as large as that of the peak at 480 mµ. They considered the absorption band of the complex to be associated with a single electronic transition and made it appear that the anomalous optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) induced by the bound dye was a single rather than a multiple Cotton effect. Their interpretation of the observed Cotton effect challenges theories of optical activity which predict a single Cotton effect associated with a single circular dichroic (CD) band nearly symmetric with respect to either the centre of the CD band or the inflexion point of the ORD (refs. 2–4). We propose an alternative interpretation, which is in harmony with existing theories, of the ORD results of Blake and Peacocke.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blake, A., and Peacocke, A. R., Nature, 208, 1009 (1965).
Lowry, T. M., and Hudson, H., Phil. Trans., 232, A, 117 (1933).
Kuhn, W., and Braun, E., Z. Physik. Chem., 8B, 281 (1930).
Moscowitz, A., in Optical Rotatory Dispersion (edit. by Djerassi, C.), 150 (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1960).
Holzwarth, G., and Doty, P., J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 87, 218 (1965).
Peacocke, A. R., and Skerrett, N. N. H., Trans. Farad. Soc., 52, 261 (1956).
Haugen, G. R., and Melhuish, W. H., Trans. Farad. Soc., 60, 386 (1964).
Resnik, R., and Yamaoka, K., Biopolymers, 4, 242 (1966).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
YAMAOKA, K., RESNIK, R. Optical Rotatory Dispersion of Complexes of Native DNA and Helical Poly-,αL-glutamic Acid with Proflavine. Nature 213, 1031–1033 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/2131031a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2131031a0
- Springer Nature Limited