Potential carcinogenicity of the synthetic 1,3,6-triazine (6-aza) nucleic acid analogues determined by DC polarography. I. Nucleobases.

The polarographic reduction of several synthetic 1,3,6-triazine (6-aza) nucleobases in the strictly anhydrous solution was studied in the absence and presence of alpha-lipoic acid. The values of the half-wave potentials E1/2 and the parameter of potential carcinogenicity tg alpha were determined for one natural and 5 synthetic nucleobases. The current value of the first diffuse polarographic wave or a new diffuse polarographic wave belonging to the nucleobase-alpha-lipoic acid complex increased with the increased alpha-lipoic acid concentration for the all compounds only marginally. Although this diffuse current increase was linearly depended on the alpha-lipoic acid concentration in anhydrous solutions, the determined index tg alpha values ranging between 0.029 and 0.108 indicated a very low potential carcinogenicity of the all nucleobases investigated.