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Checking the traps: When a phenyl selenide compound such as 1 was oxidized with sodium periodate or irradiated, an ortho-quinone methide intermediate formed and reacted with a DNA duplex by cross-linking. In the crystal structure of a derivative of 1 the biphenyl unit is twisted, and this might explain how 1 can interact effectively with the DNA backbone.
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Weng et al. (2007) studied this question.
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