Biopolymers and cell. 1999; 15 (5): 449 - 455

Interaction of cyanine dyes with nucleic acids. 11. Synthesis and spectral properties of novel 2,6-dimcthyl-4-[(3-methyl-l,3-benzothiazol-3-ium-2-yl)methyleneJ-l,4-dihydro-l-pyridinium homodimer cyanine dyes

I. A. Kocheshev, V. B. Kovalska, S. M. Yarmoluk

A novel convenient method for cyanine homodimer dyes synthesis based on the reaction of primary amines with pirilium salts is proposed. The method allows to obtain homodimers with linkers of different length and chemical nature. Spectral-luminescent properties of the dyes synthesized and their complexes with nucleic acids, as well as a dependence of these properties on the length and nature of linker were studied. A novel homodimer K6 in complexes with DNA showed approximately 2000-fold increase in fluorescence intensity. We consider this dye to be perspective as a fluorescent probe for the nucleic acids detection.