DNA base stacking: The stacked uracil/uracil and thymine/thymine minima

The potential energy surfaces of stacked uracil dimer (U/U) and stacked thymine dimer (T/T) have been explored at the counterpoise (CP)‐corrected M06‐2X/6‐31+G(d) level of theory, in the gas phase and in solution (with water and, for U/U, 1,4‐dioxane as the solvents) modeled by a continuum solvent using the polarizable continuum model. Potential energy scans were created by rotation of one monomer around its center‐of‐mass, whereas the other monomer remained still. Both face‐to‐back (one molecule exactly on top of the other) and face‐to‐face (one base molecule flipped by 180°) structures were considered. Five or six (dependent on whether CP correction is included or not) stacked uracil dimer minima and six stacked thymine dimer minima were located. A number of transition states on the U/U and T/T potential energy surfaces were likewise identified. The general effect of the continuum solvent is a flattening of the potential energy surface. Comparison of the gas‐phase M06‐2X/6‐31+G(d) U/U interaction energies with estimated CCSD(T)/complete basis set values (where available) show the excellent performance of this functional for stacking energies. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Thermochemistry of uracil and thymine revisited

Thermochemical properties of uracil and thymine have been evaluated using additional experiments. Standard (p⁰ = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpies of formation in the gas phase at T = 298.15 K for uracil −(298.1 ± 0.6) and for thymine −(337.6 ± 0.9) kJ · mol⁻¹ have been derived from energies of combustion measured by static bomb combustion calorimetry and molar enthalpies of sublimation determined using the transpiration method. The G3 and G4 quantum-chemical methods were used for calculations of theoretical gaseous enthalpies of formation being in very good agreement with the re-measured experimental values.     

Vibrational Feshbach resonances in uracil and thymine

Sharp peaks in the dissociative electron attachment (DEA) cross sections of uracil and thymine at energies below 3 eV are assigned to vibrational Feshbach resonances (VFRs) arising from coupling between the dipole bound state and the temporary anion state associated with occupation of the lowest sigma* orbital. Three distinct vibrational modes are identified, and their presence as VFRs is consistent with the amplitudes and bonding characteristics of the sigma* orbital wave function. A deconvolution method is also employed to yield higher effective energy resolution in the DEA spectra. The site dependence of DEA cross sections is evaluated using methyl substituted uracil and thymine to block H atom loss selectively. Implications for the broader issue of DNA damage are briefly discussed.     

Polymerization of cyclic derivatives of uracil and thymine

Cyclic derivatives of uracil and thymine were synthesized from their corresponding 1-(2′-chloroethyl) derivatives by dehydrochlorination. These compounds were found to undergo a variety of reactions, giving many valuable derivatives of uracil and thymine. The cyclic derivatives, as monomers, were polymerized with a cationic initiator by a unique ring-opening process. The polymerization proceeded by ring opening with isomerization of the pyrimidine ring to give a polymer in which pyrimidine rings were connected with ethylene between N-1 and N-3 or O-4 in the pyrimidine ring. The structure of these polymers was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), and mass spectra. The structure was affected by polymerization temperature.     

Quantum-chemical study on uracil and thymine nitrosonium complexes

Quantum-chemical calculations at the RI-MP2/L1 level of theory showed that the most energetically favorable complexes of uracil and thymine with nitrosonium cation are those of n-type with NO⁺ coordination at the nitrogen or oxygen atom. A correlation was found between the experimental and calculated affinities of the dioxo tautomer of thymine for nitrosonium ion ( $ A_{NO^ + } $ ). A linear relation was revealed between $ A_{NO^ + } $ values for structurally similar tautomers of uracil and thymine.     

Synthesis of bifunctionally modified hexofuranosides of thymine and uracil

The glycosylation of bis(trimethylsilyl) derivatives of uracil and thymine by bifunctionally modified derivatives of D-glucofuranose in the presence of SnCl₄ as the condensing agent was studied. It is shown that the anomers of D-glucofuranose derivatives with a 1,2-trans orientation of the OAc groups undergo condensation more readily than the anomers. Both anomers give a mixture of and nucleosides with significant preponderance of the latter due to the primary formation of a 1,2-acetoxonium ion. It is assumed that the formation of nucleosides is due to the competitive coparticipation of other groups and/or more remote acetyl groups.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 4, pp. 542–548, April, 1982.     

The influence of microhydration on the ionization energy thresholds of uracil and thymine

In the present study the ionization energy thresholds (IET's) of uracil and thymine have been calculated (with the B3LYP, PMP2, and P3 levels of theory using the standard 6-31++G(d,p) basis set) with one to three water molecules placed in the first hydration shell. Then (B3LYP) polarizable continuum model (PCM) calculations were performed with one to three waters of the hydration shell included. Calculations show there is a distinct effect of microhydration on uracil and thymine. For uracil, one added water results in a decrease in the IET of about 0.15 eV. The second and third water molecules cause a further decrease by about 0.07 eV each. For thymine, the first water molecule is seen to decrease the IET by about 0.1 eV, while the second and third water molecules cause a further decrease of less than 0.1 eV each. The changes in IET calculated here for thymine with one to three waters of hydration are smaller than the experimental values determined by Kim et al. (Kim, S. K.; Lee, W.; Herschbach, D. R. J. Phys. Chem. 1996, 100, 7933). Preliminary results presented here indicate that the experimental results may involve keto-enol tautomers of thymine. The results of placing the microhydrated structures of uracil and thymine in a PCM cavity was seen to make very little difference in the IET when compared to the IET of ordinary uracil or thymine in a PCM cavity. The implications are that accurate calculations of the IET's of uracil and thymine can be obtained by simply considering long-range solvation effects.     

Electron transfer-induced fragmentation of thymine and uracil in atom-molecule collisions

Ion-pair formation has been studied in hyperthermal (30-100 eV) neutral potassium collisions with gas phase thymine (C(5)H(6)N(2)O(2)) and uracil (C(4)H(4)N(2)O(2)). Negative ions formed by electron transfer from the alkali atom to the target molecule were analysed by time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry. The most abundant product anions are assigned to CNO(-) and (U-H)(-)/(T-H)(-) and the associated electron transfer mechanisms are discussed. Special emphasis is given to the enhancement of ring breaking pathways in the present experiments, notably CNO(-) formation, compared with free electron attachment measurements.     

Molecular beacon probes of photodamage in thymine and uracil oligonucleotides

Molecular beacons (MB) are becoming more common as sequence-selective detectors of nucleic acids. Although they can easily detect single-base mismatches, they have never been used to directly detect DNA or RNA damage. To measure the degree of ultraviolet (UV) light damage in oligonucleotides, we report a novel MB approach for general detection of photoproducts in UV-irradiated rU17 and dT17 oligonucleotides. With monochromatic UV light irradiation at ca 280 nm under anoxic conditions, the oligonucleotide absorption decays with a single-exponential time constant of 123+/-1 min for rU17 and with double-exponential time constants of 78+/-0.5 min (99%) and 180+/-5 min (0.05%) for dT17 oligonucleotides. Under the same conditions, the MB fluorescence decays more quickly, with single-exponential time constants of 19+/-2 and 26+/-3 min for rU17 and dT17, respectively. Similar kinetics were observed with broadband UV light irradiation of oligonucleotides. The differences in the UV damage kinetics of dT17 and rU17 and their detection by absorption and fluorescence techniques will be discussed in the context of differential instabilities introduced in the nucleic acid-MB duplex by the different photoproducts formed.     

Infrared spectra of protonated uracil, thymine and cytosine.

The gas-phase structures of protonated uracil, thymine, and cytosine are probed by using mid-infrared multiple-photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectroscopy performed at the Free Electron Laser facility of the Centre Laser Infrarouge d'Orsay (CLIO), France. Experimental infrared (IR) spectra are recorded for ions that were generated by electrospray ionization, isolated, and then irradiated in a quadrupole ion trap; the results are compared to the calculated infrared absorption spectra of the different low-lying isomers (computed at the B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p) level). For each protonated base, the global energy minimum corresponds to an enolic tautomer, whose infrared absorption spectrum matched very well with the experimental IRMPD spectrum, with the exception of a very weak IRMPD signal observed at about 1800 cm(-1) in the case of the three protonated bases. This signal is likely to be the signature of the second-energy-lying oxo tautomer. We thus conclude that within our experimental conditions, two tautomeric ions are formed which coexist in the quadrupole ion trap.     

Enthalpies of solution of thymine and uracil in water and dimethylsulfoxide

Enthalpies of solution of thymine and uracil in water and in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) were measured calorimetrically in the temperature range 25–40°C. H _s ^o at 25°C for thymine and uracil in water were found to be 23.1±0.5 and 29.5±0.3 kJ-mol^–1, respectively. In DMSO, H _s ^o were 7.9±0.1 and 10.2±0.1 kJ-mol^–1, respectively. In aqueous solution C _p ^o for the two nucleic acid bases were relatively large and positive with C _p ^o of thymine being larger. Both transfer quantities H _t ^o and C _p,t ^o for the proceses H₂ODMSO for the two nucleic acid bases were negative. It is proposed that, the differences in the values obtained for the two bases is due principally to increased order in the water adjacent to the methyl group in thymine.     

Regioselective synthesis of 1-allyl- and 1-arylmethyl uracil and thymine derivatives

2,4-Bis(trimethylsiloxy) pyrimidines 1 with allyl halides and arylmethyl halides in 1,2-dichloroethane in the presence of I₂ regioselectively provide 1-allyl-/1-arylmethyl-uracil and thymine derivatives. The secondary aryl alkyl and diaryl methyl halides with 1 provide chiral 1-arylalkyl/1-(diarylmethyl) uracil/thymine derivatives. The procedure has been extended to the synthesis of fluorescent uracil/thymine derivatives.     

Synthesis and structure of novel phosphonodipeptides containing a uracil or thymine group

A series of novel phosphonodipeptides containing a uracil or thymine group was synthesized in 54.2–74.1% yields by means of a peptide coupling reaction with DCC as the dehydrating agent and 1‐hydroxybezotriazole as the activating agent of the carboxyl group. All products were characterized by ¹H NMR, ³¹P NMR and IR spectra, and by elemental analyses. The crystal and molecular structure of compound 6c has been determined by X‐ray diffraction. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 11:422–427, 2000     

The catalytic power of uracil DNA glycosylase in the opening of thymine base pairs

Uracil DNA glycosylase (UNG) locates uracil and its structural congener thymine in the context of duplex DNA using a base flipping mechanism. NMR imino proton exchange measurements were performed on free and UNG-bound DNA duplexes in which a single thymine (T) was paired with a series of adenine analogues (X) capable of forming one, two, or three hydrogen bonds. The base pair opening equilibrium for the free DNA increased 55-fold as the number of hydrogen bonds decreased, but the opening rate constants were nearly the same in the absence and presence of UNG. In contrast, UNG was found to slow the base pair closing rate constants (kcl) compared to each free duplex by a factor of 3- to 23-fold. These findings indicate that regardless of the inherent thermodynamic stability of the TX pair, UNG does not alter the spontaneous opening rate. Instead, the enzyme holds the spontaneously expelled thymine (or uracil) in a transient extrahelical sieving site where it may partition forward into the enzyme active site (uracil) or back into the DNA base stack (thymine).     

A convenient, high-yield synthesis of 1-substituted uracil and thymine derivatives

Novel reagents for the synthesis of 1-substituted uracil and thymine derivatives have been developed. The aminolysis of 2- or 4-nitrophenyl 3-ethoxyacryloylcarbamate and 3-ethoxy-2-methylacryloylcarbamate with a variety of primary amino derivatives proceeded smoothly under very mild reaction conditions yielding almost quantitatively the 1,3-disubstituted urea derivatives. Their subsequent cyclization provided the 1-substituted uracil and thymine compounds, in almost quantitative yield.