The benzodienone 4 as a stable analogue of the bracken ultimate carcinogen (2) has been designed and synthesized. In the reaction with DNA the compound 4 was found to give only the N-7 alkylated product of guanine and no N-3 alkylated product of adenine and reveal guanine-selective cleavage in contrast to the natural dienone 2. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.