This question might have been asked entirely wrong. I am just so genuine confusion. SOS. I ~~feel like an~~ am an idiot. None of the academic sources I have been reading are helping and my 4 AM redbull-fueled brain simply is unable to can.
In: Biology
You got it the wrong way around, PAHs are carcinogens, quinones are not. The aromatic systems in PAHs can interact with those in the nucleotides and insert themselves between the layers of base pairs. This interferes with the proteins reading and replicating the DNA which causes mutations that can lead to the cell becoming cancerous. Quinones also have conjugated double bonds but they are not aromatic. Thus, the interactions are weak enough for thermal vibrations to push the quinone molecules out of the DNA helix.
That’s at least what I’ve heard/what my chemistry knowledge tells me.
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