Apurinic sites were introduced to dGpdG, dGpdT, dTpdG and pdGpdG by HCl hydrolysis and the cleavage of the phosphodiester bond was measured in the monobase dinucleotides by HPLC. The half-lives of apdG and apdT (a = apurinic nucleotide) were 30 min and the half-life of papdG was 21 min in 66 mM Tris (pH 7.4) and 100 degrees C. The half-lives of dGpa and dTpa were 228 and 408 min, respectively. In these compounds the cleavage of the phosphodiester bond was not the main reaction pathway as little 3'-dGMP and 3'-TMP was isolated. The half-life of dGpa was similar to that of dGMP indicating that both compounds break down primarily by depurination. The results show that the phosphodiester bond is cleaved predominantly at the 3' side of the apurinic sugar. Sodium hydroxide and piperidine increased the rate of chain cleavage.