In a recent study, we identified several new DNA adducts of the carcinogen
acetaldehyde, including N-2-(2,6-dimethyl-1,3-dioxan-4-yl)deoxyguanosine (N
-2-aldoxane-dG, 2). Our goal in this study was to investigate further the f
ormation of 2 by allowing 2,6-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane-4-ol (aldoxane, 5) to re
act with dG and DNA. Aldoxane is readily formed by trimerization of acetald
ehyde. The reaction of aldoxane with dG and DNA produced diastereomers of N
-2-aldoxane-dG (2) as observed in the reactions of acetaldehyde with dG and
DNA, supporting the intermediacy of aldoxane in their formation. Unexpecte
dly, however, an array of other adducts was formed in these reactions, incl
uding 3-(2-deoxyribos-1-yl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-8-hydroxy-6-methylpyrimido [
1,2-a]purine-10(3H)one (3), 2-amino-7,8-dihydro-8-hydroxy-6-methyl-3H-pyrro
lo[2,1-f]purine-4(6H)one (13), N-2-(3-hydroxybutylidene)dG (9), N-2-[(2-hyd
roxypropyl)-6-methyl-1,3-dioxane-4-yl]dG (14), and N-2-ethylidene-dG (1). A
dduct 1 was the major product and was found to be quite stable in DNA. The
adducts result from a cascade of aldehydes, e.g., 2-butenal (crotonaldehyde
, 12), 3-hydroxybutanal (7) and its dimer (2-hydroxypropyl)-6-methyl-1,3-di
oxane-4-ol (paraldol, 6), and acetaldehyde, produced from aldoxane under th
e reaction conditions. The reactions of aldoxane with dG and DNA were compa
red with those of paraldol. The paraldol reactions gave products resulting
from reactions of dG and DNA with paraldol, 3-hydroxybutanal, and crotonald
ehyde (adducts 3, 13, and 9) but the products of the aldoxane and acetaldeh
yde reactions (adducts I and 2) were not observed, indicating that paraldol
is more stable under the reaction conditions than is aldoxane. The results
of this study provide new insights about the formation of DNA adducts from
aldehydes via condensation products of the latter.