quick question about intercalation

[psi * psi]

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum, but it's not a homework problem, so I thought I'd ask it here.

 

This may be an obvious answer that I'm overlooking, but I'm curious. In the case of a complex such as [Ru(phen)2(qdppz)]2+, I KNOW that qdppz (quinone phased dipyridophenazine) is the intercalating ligand, but I don't know why. Why does qdppz intercalate and not the phen ligand?

 

Thanks!

[mississippichem]

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum, but it's not a homework problem, so I thought I'd ask it here.

 

This may be an obvious answer that I'm overlooking, but I'm curious. In the case of a complex such as [Ru(phen)2(qdppz)]2+, I KNOW that qdppz (quinone phased dipyridophenazine) is the intercalating ligand, but I don't know why. Why does qdppz intercalate and not the phen ligand?

 

Thanks!

 

You do mean DNA intercalation right? I assume so because the compound you have posted is similar to a class of DNA intercalcting poly-pyridyl Ruthenium(II) complexes I'm familiar with.

 

Well off hand I would say that anything with a quinone, two pyridinyl groups and a phenazine is going to have a lot of [imath] \pi-\pi [/imath] stacking interactions with any purines or pyrimidines. I'm not sure of the structure of "qdppz" (do you have a structure or IUPAC name?) but from how you describe it there should be available hydrogen bond acceptors as well.