The anthracenone ligands (1–12) with a keto-phenol and a hydroxamic acid unit were synthesized and evaluated by a restriction enzyme inhibition assay. DNA substrates composed of multiple CGCG or CGG sites are fully hydrolyzed by a restriction enzyme that is selective for each sequence. Under such conditions, the full-length DNA substrate remains only when the ligand binds to all binding sites and protects it from hydrolysis by the restriction enzymes. In the assay using AccII and the 50-mer DNA substrates containing a different number of CGCG sites at different non-binding AT base pair intervals, the more the CGCG sites, the more the full-length DNA increased. Namely, simultaneous binding of the ligand (5) to the CGCG sites increased in the order of (CGCG)₅>(CGCG)₂>(CGCG)₁. Furthermore, the length of the spacer of the hydroxamic acid to the anthracenone skeleton played an important role in the preference for the number of the d(A/T) base pairs between the CGCG sites. The long spacer-ligand (5) showed a preference to the CGCG sites with five AT pairs, and the short spacer-ligand (10) to that with two AT pairs. The ligand (12) with the shortest spacer showed a preference in simultaneous binding to the 54-mer DNA composed of 16 continuous CGG sites in the assay using the restriction enzyme Fnu4HI that hydrolyzes the d(GCGGC)/d(CGCCG) site. Application of these ligands to biological systems including the repeat DNA sequence should be of significant interest.

合成了具有酮酚和异羟肟酸单元的蒽酮配体（1 – 12），并通过限制酶抑制试验进行了评估。由多个CGCG或CGG位点组成的DNA底物被对每个序列具有选择性的限制酶完全水解。在这种条件下，全长DNA底物仅在配体结合所有结合位点并保护其不受限制酶水解时保留。在使用Acc II和以不同的非结合AT碱基对间隔包含不同数量CGCG位点的50-mer DNA底物的测定中，CGCG位点越多，全长DNA越增加。即同时结合配体（5）到CGCG的位置按（CGCG）₅ >（CGCG）₂ >（CGCG）₁的顺序增加。此外，异羟肟酸与蒽酮骨架的间隔长度在CGCG位点之间的d（A / T）碱基对数目的偏爱中起着重要作用。长的间隔配体（5）相对于具有五个AT对的CGCG位点优先，而短的间隔配体（10）相对于具有两个AT对的CGCG位点优先。在使用限制性内切酶Fnu的测定中，间隔最短的配体（12）在同时结合由16个连续CGG位点组成的54-mer DNA方面表现出优势4HI水解d（GCGGC）/ d（CGCCG）位点。这些配体在生物系统中的应用，包括重复的DNA序列，应该引起人们极大的兴趣。