Saccharide complexes of CrIII were synthesized via chromate reduction. Hexose monosaccharides such as d-glucose, d-fructose, d-galactose, d-mannose and l-sorbose and some acid derivatives, such as d-galacturonic acid and d-gluconic acid, were used. The final CrIII products were isolated, purified and characterized by various analytical, spectroscopic, magnetic and electrochemical methods. All the products reported here are shown to be dinuclear in nature. The inherent stability and robust nature of these complexes is demonstrated and they are shown to affect the pSV2neo plasmid (DNA) structure in gel electrophoretic experiments. © 1994.