Clemens von Sonntag

2006

A Chemical Perspective

The free-radical chemistry of DNA had been discussed in some detail in 1987 in my book The Chemical Basis of Radiation Biology. Obviously, the more recent developments and the concomitant higher level of understanding of mechanistic details are missing. Moreover, in the living cell, free-radical DNA damage is not only induced by ionizing radiation, but free-radical-induced DNA damage is a much more general phenomenon.