A combined computational and experimental study on DNA-photocleavage of Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes [Ru(bpy)(2)(L)](2+) (L=pip, o-mopip and p-mopip)

A combined computational and experimental study on DNA-photocleavage by Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes [Ru(bpy)(2)(L)](2+) 1-3 (bpy=2,2-bipyridine; L: pip=2-phenylimidazo[4,5-f] 1,10-phenanthroline, o-mopip=2-(2-methoxyphenyl)imidazo[4,5-f]1,10-phenanthroline and p-mopip=2-(4-methoxyphenyl) imidazo[ 4,5-f] 1,10-phenanthroline) has been carried out. The DNA-photocleavage behavior of these complexes was comparably measured by the gel electrophoresis experiments. The experimental results show that they can induce considerable DNA-photocleavage, and have different DNA-photocleavage efficiencies (phi) following the order phi(1)