Hg(II) interacted site selectively with only one of three deoxyribooligonucleotides examined; these "oligos" each had a different number of unmatched T residues. Thus, Hg(II) formed an intrastrand T-Hg-T cross-link between the first and fourth T residues of the hairpin, d(GCGCTTTTGCGC) (T4). The DNA strand formed a loop around the Hg, as if the Hg atom had been lassoed. The interactions of Hg(II) with two other oligos, d(ATGGGTTCCCAT) (T2) and d(GCGCTTTGCGC) (T3), were less specific. Previously, we found that at high DNA and salt concentrations, T2 was a mixture of hairpin and duplex forms while T3 and T4 had the hairpin form; modeling studies showed that in the free T4 hairpin the two T’s at the ends of the (T)(4) loop form a T . T wobble base pair.