Site specificity of binding of antitumor antibiotics to DNA

The site specificities for intercalation of steffimycin B, adriamycin, echinomycin, and ethidium bromide with DNA have been determined by CD first‐neighbor analysis. The first three, which are antineoplastic antibiotics, all exhibit preferential binding to sites comprised of guanine and cytosine (GpC, CpG, and CpC or its complement GpG). Ethidium bromide displays nonspecific intercalation. The results are compared with findings from “footprinting” studies.