Isolation and Characterization of the Radiation-Induced Degradation Products of 2 -Deoxyguanosine in Oxygen-Free Aqueous Solutions*

The bulk of the radiation-induced degradation products of 2'-deoxyguanosine in oxygen-free aqueous solution have been separated by high performance liquid chromatography and charac­ terized by various spectroscopic techniques including fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, ‘H NM R and circular dichroism. The two main decom position products result from the opening of the imidazole ring and further rearrangement of the sugar moiety. In addition, the formation o f six other nucleosides was shown to involve sugar radicals with subsequent epim erization, re­ arrangement or cyclization reactions.