Thin‐Film Properties of DNA and RNA Bases: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study

The structures of the DNA and RNA bases cytosine, uracil, and thymine in thin films with a nominal film thickness of about 20 nm are studied by using X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy. The molecules are evaporated in situ from powder on a gold foil. The experimental results indicate that cytosine is composed of two energetically close tautomeric forms, whereas uracil and thymine exist in only one tautomeric form. Additionally, quantum chemical calculations are performed to complement the experimental results. The relative energies of the tautomeric forms of cytosine, uracil, and thymine are calculated using Hartree–Fock (HF), density functional theory (DFT), and post‐HF methods. Furthermore, the assignment of the XPS spectra is supported by using simple model considerations employing Koopmans ionization energies and Mulliken net atomic charges.     

Interactions of nucleobases with alkali earth metal cations--electrospray ionization mass spectrometric study

Interactions of nucleobases with alkali earth metal cations have been studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Nucleobases containing at least one oxygen atom form stable complexes with alkali earth metal cations. This phenomenon can be explained on the grounds of the well known theory of hard and soft acids and bases. Uracil and thymine make complexes only when in their deprotonoted forms. The cations of great radii (Sr(2+), Ba(2+)) are more prone to form complexes of stoichiometry 1:1 with uracil and thymine than the cations of small radii (Mg(2+), Ca(2+)). On the other hand, Mg(2+) forms complexes of stoichiometry 2:1 and 3:2 with uracil and thymine. Gas-phase stabilities of the 1:1 complexes are higher for the cations of small radii, in contrast to the solution stabilities. For cytosine and 9- methylhypoxantine the 1:1 complexes of their deprotonated forms are observed at higher cone voltage as a result of HCl molecule loss from the complexes containing the counter ion (Cl(-)). In solution, more stable complexes are formed with metal cations of low radii. Gas-phase stability of the complexes formed by deprotonated 9- methyl-hypoxantine increases with increasing metal cation radius.     

Structural and electronic property changes of the nucleic acid bases upon base pair formation

A systematic study of structures and electronic properties has been carried out for the nucleic acid bases adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine and for the base pairs adenine–thymine and guanine–cytosine. We focus our attention on these properties, which experience significant changes when single nucleic bases join to form base pairs. Such properties are expected to play an important role during the formation of the DNA molecule in its B conformation. All-electron calculations with inclusion of correlation effects were performed according to the local and nonlocal density functional approaches. We compare our results with previous ab initio and semiempirical values and with available experimental data. Advantages and disadvantages for these density functional-based methods are discussed. We conclude that applications of such models to investigate larger compounds of a similar nature are promising. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

PHOTOADDUCTS OF 8-METHOXYPSORALEN TO CYTOSINE IN DNA

Abstract— The isolation and partial characterization of several photoadducts formed between 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) and cytosine is described. The formation of these adducts was analysed in E. coli DNA containing ³H-labeled cytosine and/or ¹⁴C-labeled thymine, and in oligonucleotides of defined sequence. The major initial adduct has been identified as an 8-MOP cytosine monoadduct, most likely forming at the pyrone end of the 8-MOP molecule. Further irradiation converts this adduct to several other species, including both cytosine:cytosine and cytosine:thymine diadducts, as well as a number of derivative monoadducts. One isomer of the C:T diadduct appears to undergo a reversible isomerization under the conditions normally used to analyse adduct mixtures by HPLC. The isomerization can cause this adduct to exhibit a retention time on reversed-phase HPLC closely resembling either that of a thymine-thymine crosslink or a thymine monoadduct.     

Comprehensive core-level study of the effects of isomerism, halogenation, and methylation on the tautomeric equilibrium of cytosine

Core-level X-ray photoemission and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectra of 5-methylcytosine, 5-fluorocytosine, and isocytosine are presented and discussed with the aid of high-level ab initio calculations. The effects of the methylation, halogenation, and isomerization on the relative stabilities of cytosine tautomers are clearly identified spectroscopically. The hydroxy-oxo tautomeric forms of these molecules have been identified, and their quantitative populations at the experimental temperature are calculated and compared with the experimental results and with previous calculations. The calculated values of Gibbs free energy and Boltzmann population ratios are in good agreement with the experimental results characterizing tautomer equilibrium.     

Oligonucleotide cross-linking with copper ions. Spectral and quantum chemical study

Copper(II) complexes with synthetic oligonucleotides consisting of repeating adenine–thymine and guanine–cytosine complementary base pairs have been studied by UV spectroscopy and simulated by DFT quantum chemical calculations at the B3LYP/6-311G++(d,p) level of theory with inclusion of solvation (hydration) effects. The obtained data suggest selective interaction of copper(II) ions with guanine–cytosine complementary pairs, followed by DNA cross-linking at those sites.     

Reactivities of hydroxyl and perhydroxyl radicals toward cytosine and thymine: A comparative study

As the hydroxyl (OH) and perhydroxyl (OOH) radicals are known to play important roles in biological systems, their reactions with cytosine and thymine were studied. Addition reactions of these radicals at different sites of cytosine and thymine, and hydrogen abstraction reactions by each of the two radicals from the different sites of the two molecules were studied at the B3LYP/6‐31G(d,p), B3LYP/AUG‐cc‐pVDZ and BHandHLYP/AUG‐cc‐pVDZ levels of density functional theory. Effect of solvation in aqueous media on the reactions was studied at all these levels of theory using single point energy calculations using the polarizable continuum model. The present study shows that whereas the OH radical would abstract H atoms from the various sites of cytosine and thymine efficiently, the OOH radical would have poor reactivity in this regard. The OH radical is also predicted to be much more reactive than the OOH radical with regard to addition reactions at the C5 and C6 sites of both thymine and cytosine, though the OOH radical is also predicted to have significant reactivity in this respect. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A gas phase ab initio excited state geometry optimization study of thymine, cytosine and uracil

Molecular geometries of the nucleic acid bases thymine, cytosine and uracil in the ground and the lowest two singlet excited states were optimized using the ab initio approach employing the 4-31G basis set for all the atoms except the amino group of cytosine for which the 6-311+G^* basis set was used. The excited state calculations were performed employing configuration interaction involving singly excited configurations (CIS). Vibrational frequencies were computed in order to examine the nature of the stationary points on the potential energy surfaces obtained by geometry optimization. While the ground state geometries of uracil and thymine (except the methyl group hydrogens) are planar, the corresponding excited state geometries were found to be significantly nonplanar. In the case of cytosine, the amino group is pyramidal and the rest of the molecule is only slightly nonplanar in the ground state, but the excited state geometries are appreciably nonplanar. In particular, consequent to the S₂(n–π^*) excitation of cytosine, the amino group plane is strongly rotated. While thymine is stable in the S₂(π–π^*) excited state, uracil appears to be dissociative in the corresponding excited state.     

Natural resonance structures and aromaticity of the nucleobases

Natural resonance theory (NRT) and nucleus- independent chemical shift (NICS) analyses have been applied to the standard nucleobases adenine, guanine, cytosine, uracil, and thymine. The molecular electron densities were obtained from density functional theory calculations at the B3LYP level and ab initio calculations at the HF, MP2, and CCD levels. Compared with the dominance of the two Kekulé structures in benzene, the structural modifications in the forms of endocyclic heteroatoms and exocyclic substituents introduce various degrees of charge separation in nucleobases. As a result, the leading resonance structures for cytosine, uracil, and thymine are found to be covalent structures, but their weightings decrease to ~30% in the NRT expansion. For adenine and guanine, the covalent structures have weightings of ~20%, and the leading ionic resonance structures have weightings of as high as about 8%. Methods that include electron correlation effects, B3LYP, MP2, and CCD, give smaller weightings for the covalent structures than HF. However, MP2 and CCD results often include “strange” resonance structures with connections between unbonded vicinal atoms, making DFT at the B3LYP level the better choice for calculating these molecules’ electron density. The NICS at the ring center shows that the six-membered rings in cytosine, uracil, thymine, and guanine are nonaromatic with NICS within − 3 to − 1 ppm, while it is − 7.3 ppm for the six-membered ring in adenine. The NICS of the five-membered rings of adenine and guanine is around − 12 ppm, a slight decrease from the value of − 15.0 ppm for pyrrole.     

Relative stability,potential barrier and intensity parameters of the trans and cis isomers of fluoroacetyl fluoride: An ab initio study

Ab initio calculations have been performed to determine molecular geometries, relative stabilities and the potential barrier of the fluoroacetyl fluoride molecule. The calculations indicate the existence of two stable conformations, trans and cis, in agreement with experimental studies. The potential barrier presents a maximum around 80° and an energy difference of ⋍ 17.5 kJ mol⁻¹ with respect to the most stable conformer (trans). These calculations also confirm that this conformer is more polar than the cis form, with the total dipole moment oriented along the carbonylic bond. The intensity parameters of the trans and cis isomers in terms of their atomic polar tensors have been analysed using the “charge-charge flux-overlap” model. The calculations predict similar atomic polar tensors for both forms, suggesting practically equivalent electronic structures in the ground state.     

PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS OF THYMINE, URACIL, URIDINE, CYTOSINE AND BROMOURACIL IN FROZEN SOLUTION AND IN DRIED FILMS*

Abstract— The photochemistry of uracil, uridine, cytosine, thymine and broinouracil has been investigated in frozen aqueous solution and in dried films. Essentially the same photoproducts were obtained in the two conditions; however, the yield of photoproducts was considerably greater in frozen solution. Uracil forms a dimer which can exist in two forms. Some kinetic data are presented for the interconversion of these two forms, The mixed dimer of thymine and uracil can also exist in two forms. Uridine forms only one acid stable photoproduct and does not appear to form mixed photoproducts under the conditions used. Two new photoproducts of thymine other than the dimer are described. Cytosine was at first considered to be completely inert hut using more sensitive detecting equipment it has recently been found to form uracil dinier as a result of dinierization and deamination. The most remarkable response was shown by bromouracil. When irradiated by itself it formed no photoproducts but when irradiated in the presence of uracil, uridine, cytosine or NaOH it formed many photoproducts. Most of these products were devoid of bromide, but two still contained bromine. One of these has been identified as the mixed dimer of uracil and bromouracil while the other has been tentatively identified as the dimer of bromouracil. Dimers of thymine or bromouracil were not formed by X-rays.     

Theoretical Study of the Intramolecular Proton Transfer in the Tautomers of Cytosine Assisted by Water

Ab initio MP2 and DFT studies on the tautomers of cytosine and the related hydrated tautomers have been carried out. The ground‐state structures of four tautomers of cytosine and related transition states were fully optimized. The vibrational frequency analysis was performed on all the optimized structures. Detailed intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC) calculations were carried out to guarantee the optimized transition‐state structures being connected to the related tautomers. We obtained the relative stability order for the tautomers of cytosine and the related hydrated tautomers. In the isolated and hydrated condition, the bond types of C(2) O(7) and C(4) N(8) greatly affect the stability of the cytosine tautomers. Moreover, we have explored the influence of the water molecules on the intramolecular proton transfer between the keto and enol forms of the cytosine tautomers. The first water molecule obviously decreases the isomerization activation energy for the monohydrated cytosine tautomers. It is shown that the isomerization energy barrier changes only a little when the second and third water molecules are added in the reaction loop. The solvent effects have an obvious influence on the proton‐transfer barrier of the isolated cytosine. However, the solvent effects seem to be insignificant for the isomerization energy barriers of the monohydrated, dihydrated and trihydrated cytosine. The water molecule in these complexes can be looked on as the explicit water. Therefore, the explicit water model may be more credible to explore the intramolecular proton transfer, in comparison with the PCM which is the implicit water model.     

Ab initio base-pairing energies of an oxidized thymine product, 5-formyluracil, with standard DNA bases at the BSSE-free DFT and MP2 theory levels

Oxidation of the thymine methyl group produces two stable products, non-mutagenic 5-hydroxymethyluracil and highly mutagenic 5-formyluracil. We have calculated the interaction energy of base-pair formation involving 5-formyluracil bound to the natural DNA bases adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T), and discuss the effects of the 5-formyl group with respect to similar base-pairs containing uracil, 5-hydroxyuracil, thymine (5-methyluracil), and 5-hydroxycytosine. The interaction geometries and energies were calculated four ways: (a) using density functional theory (DFT) without basis set super-position error (BSSE) corrections, (b) using DFT with BSSE correction of geometries and energies, (c) using M?ller-Plesset second order perturbation theory (MP2) without BSSE correction, and (d) using MP2 with BSSE geometry and energy correction. All calculations used the 6-311G(d,p) basis set. Notably, we find that the A:5-formyluracil base-pair is more stable than the precursor A:T base-pair. The relative order of base-pair stabilities is A:5-Fo-U > G:5-Fo-U > C:5-Fo-U > T:5-Fo-U.     

Comprehensive study of the effects of methylation on tautomeric equilibria of nucleic acid bases

Minor tautomers of nucleic acid bases can result by intramolecular proton transfer. These rare tautomers could be stabilized through the addition of methyl groups to DNA bases. A comprehensive theoretical study of tautomers of methylated derivatives of guanine, adenine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil was performed. Molecular geometries of all tautomers were obtained at the density functional theory and MP2 levels with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set, and single-point calculations were performed at the CCSD(T)/6-311G(d,p) level. Tautomers obtained by protonation at the preferred protonation site for methylated isolated bases were compared to their nonmethylated counterparts. The effects of methylation on the relative stabilities of nucleic acid base tautomers are also studied and discussed in this work. The results suggest that some sites on the bases may not be mutagenic and may even stabilize the canonical Watson-Crick form. The results also indicate that a number of methylation sites can stabilize the tautomers, suggesting possible mechanisms for mutagenic changes.     

Annular tautomerism: experimental observations and quantum mechanics calculations

The use of MP2 level quantum mechanical (QM) calculations on isolated heteroaromatic ring systems for the prediction of the tautomeric propensities of whole molecules in a crystalline environment was examined. A Polarisable Continuum Model was used in the calculations to account for environment effects on the tautomeric relative stabilities. The calculated relative energies of tautomers were compared to relative abundances within the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) and the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The work was focussed on 84 annular tautomeric forms of 34 common ring systems. Good agreement was found between the calculations and the experimental data even if the quantity of these data was limited in many cases. The QM results were compared to those produced by much faster semiempirical calculations. In a search for other sources of the useful experimental data, the relative numbers of known compounds in which prototropic positions were often substituted by heavy atoms were also analysed. A scheme which groups all annular tautomeric transformations into 10 classes was developed. The scheme was designed to encompass a comprehensive set of known and theoretically possible tautomeric ring systems generated as part of a previous study. General trends across analogous ring systems were detected as a result. The calculations and statistics collected on crystallographic data as well as the general trends observed should be useful for the better modelling of annular tautomerism in the applications such as computer-aided drug design, small molecule crystal structure prediction, the naming of compounds and the interpretation of protein—small molecule crystal structures.     

B—DNA分子中互补碱基对G—C、A—T水合作用的研究

本文通过对B—DNA分子中互补碱基对A—T、G—C水合作用的量子化学计算以及最优化处理求得了它们水合作用的最优配位模式。结果表明,当水分子与互补碱基对A—T、G—C共面且水分子与A—T碱基对中胸腺嘧啶(T)杂环上的O_2原子形成氢键以及与G—C碱基对中胞嘧啶(C)杂环上的O_2原子形成氢键时,它们的水合作用具有最稳定的配位模式。     

Electrochemical oxidation of guanosine and adenosine: Two convergent pathways

We herein explore a novel route for oxidative stress in DNA by using electrochemistry as mimicking tool. Essentially, the electrochemical oxidation of guanine and adenine nucleosides and oligo-homo-nucleotides at pyrolytic graphite electrodes in neutral and alkaline aqueous solutions was studied. Under these experimental conditions all these compounds give rise to an adsorbed product not previously described, which was electrochemically and kinetically characterized. The virtually identical kinetic and electrochemical features exhibited by the oxidized compounds generated from all precursors strongly suggest a common species arising from both adenine and guanine derivatives. Supported by DFT calculations, we propose two convergent pathways for the electrochemical oxidation of adenosine and guanosine. Those calculations indicate that the common oxidized base product forms stable H-bond base pairs with both thymine and cytosine.     

PHOTOREACTIONS AT 3655Å BETWEEN PYRIMIDINE BASES AND SKIN-PHOTOSENSITIZING FUROCOUMARINS

Abstract After irradiation at 3655 Å of an aqueous frozen solution containing thymine and psoralen, a new photocompound was isolated by column chromatography. It contains a furocoumarin and a pyrimidine-moiety linked together by the formation of a cyclobutane ring (see formulas II and III). By irradiation at 2537 Å in acetic acid solution, the photocompound breaks up again yielding psoralen and thymine. From an aqueous frozen solution containing cytosine and psoralen irradiated at 3655 Å, an analogous photocompound was obtained, which, however, consists of the addition to psoralen of a uracil molecule, instead of a cytosine one (IV, V). It has been stated that the hydrolytic deamination of the cytosine moiety to the uracil one takes place during the working up of the photocompound in aqueous solution after irradiation. Substances with properties similar to those above were obtained from bergapten (5-methoxy-psoralen) and thymine, from psoralen and thymidine or thymidylic acid, irradiated at 3655 Å.
The new substances may be considered as model compounds in explaining the photoreactions which take place between the skin-photosensitizing furocoumarins and DNA upon irradiation at 3655 Å.     

Vapour pressures and sublimation enthalpies of thymine and cytosine

The vapour pressures of cytosine and thymine were measured using the torsion-effusion technique. The sublimation processes of cytosine and thymine were investigated over the temperature ranges 480–553 K and 420–503 K, respectively. The following pressure—temperature equations were derived by least-squares treatment of the vapour pressure data

The standard sublimation enthalpies were obtained by second-and third-law treatment of the experimental data and the values ΔH⁰₂₉₈ = 167 ± 10 kJ mole^?1 and ΔH⁰₂₉₈ = 138 ± 10 kJ mole^?1 were derived for cytosine and thymine, respectively. IR and Raman spectra were recorded in the gas phase in order to evaluate the thermodynamic functions of gaseous cytosine and thymine.     

Transport Selectivity of a Diethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate- Based Thymine-imprinted Polymeric Membrane over a Cellulose Support for Nucleic Acid Bases

The binding mechanism between 9-vinyladenine and pyrimidine base thymine in methanol was studied with UV-visible spectrophotometric method. Based on this study, using thymine as a template molecule, 9-vinyladenine as a novel functional monomer and diethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a new cross-linker, a specific diethylene glycol dimethacrylate-based molecularly imprinted polymeric membrane was prepared over a cellulose support. Then, the resultantly polymeric membrane morphologies were visualized with scanning electron microscopy and its permselectivity was examined using thymine, uracil, cytosine, adenine and guanine as substrates. This result showed that the imprinting polymeric membrane prepared with diethylene glycol dimethacrylate exhibited higher transport capacity for the template molecule thymine and its optimal analog uracil than other nucleic acid bases. The membrane also took on higher permselectivity than the imprinted membrane made with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a cross-linker. When a mixture including five nucleic acid bases thymine, uracil, cytosine, adenine and guanine passed through the diethylene glycol dimethacrylate-based thymine-imprinted polymeric membrane, recognition of the membrane for the template molecule thymine and its optimal analog uracil was demonstrated. It was predicted that the molecularly imprinted membrane prepared with diethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker might be applicable to thymine assay of absolute hydrolysates of DNA or uracil assay of absolute hydrolysates of RNA in biological samples because of its high selectivity for the template molecule thymine and its optimal analog uracil.