Circular dichroism (CD) is an useful technique for monitoring DNA conformation changes resulting from changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature, ionic strength, and pH, and also for the study of the interaction between DNA and ligands (including small molecules and proteins). CD spectroscopy of DNA arises from the asymmetric backbone sugars and by the helical structures often adopted by nucleic acids. By the interpretation of induced circular dichroism (ICD) of ligand signals resulting from the coupling of electric transition moments of the ligand, DNA bases within the asymmetric DNA environment, ligand-DNA interactions, as well as the DNA-binding mode can be assessed. A number of important conclusions have been reported that related to the observed ICD signals resulting from the interactions between intercalators and groove binders with DNA. If short oligonucleotide sequences are used in the study, sequences-specific of binding also can be deduced. CD determination requires smaller amounts of sample, and not limited by the molecular weight or size and can be performed rapidly; though CD is of low resolution, but it's a complement to NMR and X-ray diffraction methods. This review will introduce the characters of the CD spectra of DNA, and its application to the studies of DNA with small molecules; some progress of the studies in our laboratory will also be discussed. CD is expected to be used as a screening method in seeking more DNA-targeted drugs, such as, antineoplastic, antimicrobial and antiviral drugs.

The methods of 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopy were used in detecting the metabolites of brodimoprim (BDP) in rat plasma. The endogenic compounds in the plasma were removed with solid phase extraction (SPE) column firstly, then the mixture of metabolites was identified with 1H NMR and mass spectroscopy (MS). Two metabolites of BDP in the plasma at 20h were detected, they were demethyl-brodimorpim glucuronide and brodimoprim sulfurate. The study proved that the method of SPE coupled with NMR and MS can be applied to the analysis of metbolites in plasma quickly and conveniently.

Phthiobuzone is a bis(thiosemicarbazone) derivative with a single chiral center which has been used as a racemate in the clinical treatment of herpes and trachoma diseases. In this study, its two enantiomers were prepared from chiral amino acids and their absolute configurations were investigated by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) combined with modern quantum-chemical calculations using time-dependent density functional theory. It was found that solvation changed both the conformational distribution and the ECD spectrum of each conformer. The theoretical ECD spectra of the two enantiomers were in good agreement with the experimentally determined spectra of the corresponding isomers in dimethyl sulfoxide. The ECD behavior of the bis(thiosemicarbazone) chromophore in a chiral environment is also discussed. Our results indicate that ECD spectroscopy may be a useful tool for the stereochemical evaluation of chiral drugs.