Interaction of cyanine dyes with nucleic acids. I. Studies on monomethyne cyanine dyes as possible fluorescent probes for the detection of nucleic acids

The series of monomethyne cyanine dyes as possible fluorescent probes for DNA and RNA analysis were synthesized and their optical properties were studied. Two dyes interacted with native DNA and RNA with strong fluorescence enhancement (up to 350 and 1550 times for Cyan 3 and Cyan 6, respectively). The complex of Cyan 4 with nucleic acids had extremely large Stokes shift (154 nm). Methylenoxybenzthiazole residue seems to be perspective structural fragment for the synthesis of new nucleic acid binding cyanine dyes.