Studies on the interaction of metal ions or metal coordination complexes
with nucleic acids or their respective constituents. the nucleobases. were
carried out even before the Watson-Crick structure was postulated and
before the principal tautomeric forms of the nucleobases were established
(1) . It was not before the early 1960s. however. that stepped up activities
in this field were evident (2) . This situation markedly changed in the late
1960s . following the discovery of Rosenberg et a1 . (3) of the antitumor
activity of C~S.[(NH,)~P~C~,](C~~.DDP . cisplatin) and related Pt(1I) and
Pt(IV) coordination compounds and studies suggesting that cellular DNA