The DNA tripler stabilization property of seven natural anthocyanins (five
monoglucosides and two diglucosides) has been measured by the mean of tripl
er thermal denaturation experiments. We have noticed a difference between t
he diglucosides that do not modify this melting temperature and the monoglu
cosides (namely 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside of malvidin, peonidin, delphinid
in, petunidin and cyanidin) which present a weak but significant stabilizin
g effect. It appears clearly that the difference between the two series cou
ld be due to the supplementary sugar moiety at the 5 position for the diglu
cosylated compounds, that would make them too crowded to allow interaction
with the tripler. Among the monuglucoside series, the most active compounds
are the only ones to embody a catechol B-ring in their structure that coul
d be important for such an interaction. The need to have pure and fully cha
racterized compounds to run these measurements, made it possible for us to
unambiguously assign the H-1 and C-13 NMR spectra with the help of 2D NMR e
xperiments. Thus, missing data of compounds not totally described earlier,
are provided herein. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.