Analysis of the reaction between 2'-deoxyadenosine and 4-oxo-2-nonenal by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry revealed the presence of three major products (adducts A
1, A
2,and B). Adducts A
1 and A
2 were isomeric; they interconverted at room temperature, and theyeach readily dehydrated to form adduct B. The mass spectral characteristics of adduct Bobtained by collision-induced dissociation coupled with multiple tandem mass spectrometrywere consistent with those expected for a substituted etheno adduct. The structure of adductB was shown by NMR spectroscopy to be consistent with the substituted etheno-2'-deoxyadenosine adduct 1' '-[3-(2'-deoxy-
-
D-erythropentafuranosyl)-3
H-imidazo[2,1-
i]purin-7-yl]heptane-2' '-one. Unequivocal proof of structure came from the reaction of adducts A
1 andA
2 (precursors of adduct B) with sodium borohydride. Adducts A
1 and A
2 each formed the samereduction product, which contained eight additional hydrogen atoms. The mass spectralcharacteristics of this reduction product established that the exocyclic amino group (N
6) of2'-deoxyadenosine was attached to C-1 of the 4-oxo-2-nonenal. The reaction of 4-oxo-2-nonenalwith calf thymus DNA was also shown to result in the formation of substituted ethano adductsA
1 and A
2 and substituted etheno adduct B. Adduct B was formed in amounts almost 2 ordersof magnitude greater than those of adducts A
1 and A
2. This was in keeping with the observedstability of the adducts. The study presented here has provided additional evidence whichshows that 4-oxo-2-nonenal reacts efficiently with DNA to form substituted etheno adducts.