Effective DNA cleavage by bleomycin-vanadium(IV) complex plus hydrogen peroxide.

It has been firstly found that the bleomycin-vanadyl(IV) complex is effectively capable of cleaving DNA in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The 1:1 bleomycin-VO(IV) complex has been characterized by ESR and electronic absorption spectra, and its ESR parameters (go = 1.982 and Ao = 93.5 G) are indicative of VO(N5) coordination type for the metal-binding environment. The mode of nucleotide sequence cleavage induced by the present bleomycin-VO(IV)-H2O2 complex system was appreciably different from the corresponding Fe(III) complex system. Of special interest is the fact that the bleomycin-vanadium complex system more preferentially attacked G-A(5'----3') sequences than the bleomycin-iron complex system.