E.S.R. of spin-trapped radicals in aqueous solutions of pyrimidine nucleosides and nucleotides. Reactions of the hydroxyl radical.

Free radicals produced by the reactions of OH radicals with ribose phosphates, pyrimidine nucleosides and nucleotides in aqueous solutions have been investigated by e.s.r. and spin-trapping techniques. OH radicals were generated by U.V. -photolysis of hydrogen peroxide and short-lived free radicals of the samples were spin-trapped by t-nitrosobutane and identified by e.s.r. spectroscopy. For ribose-5'-phosphate and 2' -deoxyribose-5' -phosphate, e.s.r. spectra observed consisted mainly of singles due to -C(5')H2 radicals which were initiated by H-abstraction from the sugar at the C-4' position and formed by the radical transfer to the C-5' position. It has also been shown that OH radicals abstract a hydrogen atom from the sugar at C-1' and C-5' positions. For cytidine, deoxycytidine, 5'-CMP, 3' -CMP and 5' -dCMP, four radicals have been observed and for uridine, deoxyuridine, 5' -UMP, 3' -UMP and 5' -dUMP, the existence of at least three radical species have been established. In contrast to the case of ribose phosphates, no signals due to -C(5')H2 radicals were detected for pyrimidine nucleosides and nucleotides. The results are discussed in relation to a recent mechanism which described OH-induced strand breaks of DNA.