Thermodynamic and structural investigation of the interaction of quaternized 2,3-octakis-[(2-mercaptopyridine)phthalocyaninato] copper (II) sulfate (CuPc) with parallel and hybrid type G-quadruplex

G-quadruplexes are important drug targets and get attention due to their existence in telomere, ribosomal DNA, promoter regions of some oncogenes, and the untranslated regions of mRNA. Due to the biological roles of G-quadruplexes, investigating of the G-quadruplex–small molecule interaction is essential. The primary motivation for these studies is the possibility of inhibiting cell functions associated with G-quadruplex sequences by binding with small molecules. Targeting the small molecules to desired tissue with the G-quadruplex vehicles is the second important goal of the G-quadruplex–small molecule interaction studies. In the present study, the new peripherally 2-mercaptopyridine octasubstituted copper(II) phthalocyanine and its quaternized derivative (CuPc) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis FT-IR, UV–Vis, and mass spectra. The excellent solubility of CuPc in water is essential for its transport in the organism. Because of this feature, its affinity toward G-quadruplex forming aptamers, AS1411, Tel21, and Tel45, was investigated. The UV–Vis spectrophotometric titration data confirmed the prevention of aggregation upon interaction with G-quadruplex, which is very important for biomedical applications. The CD spectroscopic analyses and binding stoichiometry confirmed the “end stacking” model for interaction of AS1411 with CuPc. The interaction of CuPc caused the equilibrium shift from hybrid conformation to antiparallel conformation for Tel21 and Tel45. The isothermal titration calorimeter (ITC) was used for the determination of thermodynamic parameters. The thermodynamic data of the interaction was fitted well with the one-site model. The negative values of Gibbs free energy change confirmed the spontaneous nature of the reactions. Besides, the negative values of enthalpy change and entropy change proved that the nature of processes was “enthalpy driven.” The interaction stoichiometry was 2 for AS1411 and Tel21 and 1.5 for Tel45. The binding constants were 1.3(±0.3) × 10⁵, 3.2(±0.4) × 10⁵, and 1.1(±0.3) × 10⁵ M⁻¹, which were at the level of ethidium bromide intercalation binding constant given in the literature. The DNA polymerase stop assay further supported the interaction of CuPc with G-quadruplex DNA. The experimental results confirm that the CuPc has a potential photosensitizer behaviour for photodynamic therapy.