1-[6-(Dimethylamino)-2-naphthalenyl]-ethanone; 1-(6-Dimethylaminonaphthalen-2-yl)ethanone; Acdan; Acedan; 2-ADN|

2-Acetyl-6-(dimethylamino)naphthalene (2-ADN) is a fluorescent probe that has been shown to react with nucleic acids. 2-ADN is an acyl chain analog of the natural substrate, naphthoquinone. 2-ADN reacts with dsDNA and RNA by intercalating between the bases in the DNA duplex or RNA strand and then reacting with the nucleobases at the ends of each strand to form a covalent bond. The reaction rate can be increased by increasing the length of the acyl chain. In vitro studies have shown that 2-ADN binds preferentially to euchromatin regions of chromosomes, which are regions rich in gene activity. Fluorescence assays have also shown that 2-ADN binds to wild type strains more efficiently than mutant strains.