The difference spectrum of the quercetin--DNA complex versus quercetin alone was characterized by a peak at 395 nm. An increase in the magnitude of difference spectrum was seen with increased ionic strength. Spectrophotometric changes in absorbance and fluorescence of quercetin showed that ethidium bromide is able to displace quercetin from the quercetin--DNA complex. These results indicate that the binding of quercetin to DNA does not involve electrostatic interactions but may be intercalative in nature. Experiments using DNase I footprinting technique showed that the flavonoid does not possess any preferred sites of binding in DNA. Strand scission in DNA by the quercetin--Cu(II) system gave a generally uniform cutting pattern of internucleotide bonds. This led to the observation that the quercetin--Cu(II) cleavage reaction has the potential of being used as preferred DNA footprinting reagent.