Anions of Ionic Liquids Are Important Players in the Rescue of DNA Damage.

The non-targeted action of fungicides generates genotoxic effect in vertebrates by perturbing the structure of DNA, which impacts its replication and transcriptional process, leading to several serious gene associated diseases. Hence, finding a suitable medium that can reduce/reverse the structural perturbation of DNA induced by fungicide, viz. dodine, is essential. Spectroscopic as well as molecular dynamics simulation techniques have been implemented to understand the effect of ionic liquids (ILs) having a tetramethylguanidinium cation along with short and long hydrophobic chain anions mixed with fungicide. The addition of ILs possessing anions with long hydrophobic chain blocks the fungicide from binding in the groove region of DNA by forming micelle-like structure and reverses the structural change induced by the fungicide. The hydrophobicity of long hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon chains of anions is a key parameter for reversing the effect of fungicide as small anion based ILs are incapable of annulling the structural change of DNA.