cis-1,4-Dioxo-2-butene is a toxic metabolite of furan, while the trans-isomer is a product of deoxyribose oxidation in DNA. It has recently been reported that both cis- and trans- 1,4-dioxo-2-butene react with the 2'-deoxynucleosides dC, dG, and dA to form novel diastereomeric oxadiazabicyclo(3.3.0)octaimine adducts. We have now extended these studies with kinetic and spectroscopic analyses of the reactions of cis- and trans- 1,4-dioxo-2-butene, as well as the identification of novel adducts of dA. The reaction of dC with trans-1,4-dioxo-2-butene was observed to be nearly quantitative and produced two interchanging diastereomers with a second-order rate constant of 3.66 x 10(-2) M-1 s(-1), which is nearly 10-fold faster than the reaction with the cis-isomer (3.74 x 10(-3) M-1 s(-1)). HPLC analyses of reactions of 1,4-dioxo-2-butene with both dA and 9-methyladenine (pH 7.4, 37 degreesC) revealed multiple products including a novel pair of closely eluting fluorescent species of identical mass ([M + H] m/z 420), each of which contains two molecules of 1,4-dioxo-2-butene, and a more abundant but unstable and non-fluorescent species ([M + H] m/z 414). Partial structural characterization of the fluorescent adducts of dA revealed the presence of the oxadiazabicyclo(3.3.0)octaimine ring system common to the dC adducts. These results support the genotoxic potential of furan metabolites and products of deoxyribose oxidation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.