Molar heat capacities and volumes of transfer of cytosine,thymine, caffeine and 1,3-diethylthymine to aqueous solutions of glycyl-glycine and L-α-alanyl-L-α-alanine at 25°C

Densities and specific heat capacities of ternary aqueous systems containing dipeptides (glycyl-glycine or L--alanyl-L--alanine) and nucleic acid bases (cytosine or thymine) or their alkyl derivatives (1,3-diethylthymine or caffeine) were determined at 25°C by flow calorimetry and flow densimetry. The partial molar volumes and heat capacities of transfer at infinite dilution of the different nucleic acid bases from water to water+dipeptide solutions were obtained therefrom. Except for the case of the transfer of cytosine to aqueous glycyl-glycine solutions where a small positive dependence of the transfer quantities was observed with the dipeptide concentration, the values of the heat capacities of transfer were in general low, positive or negative, depending on the compensation of hydrophobic-hydrophilic interactions between the dipeptide and the base. The volumes of transfer of most of the bases are very small, within the limit of the experimental error.     

Interaction of adenine and thymine with aqueous sugar solutions

The solubility of the nucleic acid bases, adenine and thymine, in aqueous erythritol, xylose, glucose, and sucrose solutions has been studied. The solubility of adenine increases linearly with glucose and sucrose concentration, whereas with the other reagents a nonlinear increase is observed. Below 1.5M reagent concentration, the solubility of adenine increases in the order erythritol < robose, xylose < glucose < sucrose. The solubility of thymine in these solutions, on the other hand, decreases, increases, or does not change depending upon the reagent. The effect of temperature on the solubility of adenine and thymine in sugar solution indicates that the transfer of these molecules from water to sugar solution is exothermic.Presented in part at the VIIth All-India Symposium in Biophysics held at Visva Bharati University during October 1976.     

On the Effect of Organic Substitution of Silicon Alkoxides in Poly(Vinyl Acetate) Organic-Inorganic Composites

Abstract

Organic-inorganic composites (OICs) were prepared via the in-situ polymerization of an organically (phenyl) substituted trialkoxysilane, phenyltriethoxysilane (PhTEOS), in the presence of poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc). The mechanical reinforcement above T _g previously observed in OICs of unfunctionalized organic polymers such as PVAc with acid catalyzed in-situ polymerized tetraalkoxysilane was not observed when the tetraalkoxysilane was replaced with PhTEOS. Although both systems are optically transparent and both exhibit a high degree of hydrogen bonding between the carbonyl of PVAc and the residual hydroxyls of the silicate, the polymerization of the alkoxide is different. The tetra-functional alkoxide polymerizes to form a load-supporting silicate network, leading to a high plateau in the tensile modulus above T _g, whereas the trifunctional alkoxide reacts to form primarily low molecular weight oligomers. These increase the T _g of the PVAc but do not provide mechanical reinforcement.     

Application of chromium‐doped fullerene as a carrier for thymine and uracil nucleotides: Comprehensive density functional theory calculations

The interactions of the nucleobases thymine (C₅H₆N₂O₂) and uracil (C₄H₄N₂O₂) with Cr‐doped C₂₀ fullerene (C₁₉Cr) are investigated by performing density functional theory calculations. The adsorption of these nucleobases on C₁₉Cr leads to two distinct geometries (P1 and P2) differing in the orientation of the nucleobases. The interaction of the nucleobases with the C₁₉Cr nanocluster is highly exothermic, revealing that they are chemically adsorbed on C₁₉Cr. The results show that the binding energy of the thymine–C₁₉Cr complex is slightly higher than that of the uracil–C₁₉Cr complex. In addition, the P2 geometry is more stable compared to P1 due to the higher binding energy in the former configuration. However, based on the results of natural bond orbital and frontier molecular orbitals analyses, the C₁₉Cr nanocage has higher reactivity with the nucleobases in P1 geometry in comparison with P2 due to the larger charge transfer and orbital hybridization in the former geometry. Moreover, the band gap of the C₁₉Cr nanocage decreases after interaction with the nucleobases, and interestingly the impact is more pronounced for P1 geometry, confirming the higher sensitivity of C₁₉Cr to the nucleobases in P1 geometry. Our findings reveal the promising potential of C₁₉Cr as an organometallic carrier for nucleobases thymine and uracil.     

Prebiotic Route to Thymine from Formamide—A Combined Experimental–Theoretical Study

Synthesis of RNA nucleobases from formamide is one of the recurring topics of prebiotic chemistry research. Earlier reports suggest that thymine, the substitute for uracil in DNA, may also be synthesized from formamide in the presence of catalysts enabling conversion of formamide to formaldehyde. In the current paper, we show that to a lesser extent conversion of uracil to thymine may occur even in the absence of catalysts. This is enabled by the presence of formic acid in the reaction mixture that forms as the hydrolysis product of formamide. Under the reaction conditions of our study, the disproportionation of formic acid may produce formaldehyde that hydroxymethylates uracil in the first step of the conversion process. The experiments are supplemented by quantum chemical modeling of the reaction pathway, supporting the plausibility of the mechanism suggested by Saladino and coworkers.     

Identification of radiation-induced cross-linking between thymine and tryptophan by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

Upon exposure to ionizing radiation, DNA undergoes a variety of modifications including the production of a covalent bond between the nucleobase thymine and aromatic amino acids. In this work, electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry(ESI-MS) was used to identify the gamma radiation-induced covalent cross-linking of model peptides (sequence YPPW and pYPPW) with the nucleobase thymine. Tandem electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MSn) was employed to investigate the cross-linking sites. The results showed that irrespective of whether tyrosine was phosphorylated or not, the nucleobase thymine was cross-linked with the tryptophan residue. Possible cross-linking mechanisms are proposed by investigating the related mass peaks.     

Analysis of hydrogen bonds by the IR spectra of thymine and N<Subscript>1</Subscript>,N<Subscript>3</Subscript>-deuterothymine

Calculations of the frequencies and absolute intensities of the IR bands of plane vibrations of thymine and N₁,N₃-deuterothymine in various phase states have been carried out. It has been shown that in the polycrystalline state thymine forms hydrogen bonds C₂=O₈...HN₁ and C₂=O₈...HN₃, and in an aqueous solution the intermolecular interaction is realized by means of the hydrogen bonds O₈...HO and O...HN₁.__________Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 72, No. 1, pp. 99–105, January–February, 2005.     

Precision synthesis and characterization of thymine‐functionalized polyisobutylene

A new two‐step synthesis of polyisobutylene (PIB) with precisely one thymine functionality per chain (PIB‐T) is reported. The primary hydroxyl‐functionalized PIB (PIB‐OH) precursor was prepared by direct functionalization via living carbocationic polymerization of isobutylene initiated by the α‐methylstyrene epoxide/TiCl₄ system. Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐ToF MS) of a low molecular weight PIB‐OH precursor demonstrated the effectiveness of direct functionalization by this method. A PIB‐acrylate precursor (PIB‐Ac) was obtained from such a PIB‐OH, and the PIB‐T was subsequently prepared by Michael addition of thymine across the acrylate double bond. MALDI‐ToF MS of the products verified that all polymer chains carried precisely one thymine group. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 3501–3506, 2010