If that hypothesis were true, it would implicate not just phenylalanine, but dopamine, epinephrine, diphenhydramine, ibuprofen, paracetamol, limonene, vanillin, cinnamaldehyde, and
literally thousands of other different molecules, natural and synthetic, we constantly interact with. Heck, most polyphenols have pi-conjugation, and those are widely thought to have antioxidant and anticancer effects. Oh and I completely forgot about the indole moiety (tryptophan).
Intercalation is way more complicated than just some flat pi-bonded moieties. If that's all it took, we'd see everyone getting cancer like...rats...oooohhhh, I wonder...
Maybe rodents (especially Sprague rats) are way more vulnerable to intercalation? That would explain why so many things cause cancer - weak recovery mechanisms for DNA replication errors. I need to look into this further.
Anyway... the pattern I see across known intercalators is large, multi-ring (3 or more) fused flat structures. Like PAHs.
Intercalation is way more complicated than just some flat pi-bonded moieties. If that's all it took, we'd see everyone getting cancer like...rats...oooohhhh, I wonder...
Maybe rodents (especially Sprague rats) are way more vulnerable to intercalation? That would explain why so many things cause cancer - weak recovery mechanisms for DNA replication errors. I need to look into this further.
Anyway... the pattern I see across known intercalators is large, multi-ring (3 or more) fused flat structures. Like PAHs.