Effect of the Solvent and Substituent on Tautomeric Preferences of Amine-Adenine Tautomers

Adenine is one of the basic molecules of life; it is also an important building block in the synthesis of new pharmaceuticals, electrochemical (bio)sensors, or self-assembling molecular materials. Therefore, it is important to know the effects of the solvent and substituent on the electronic structure of adenine tautomers and their stability. The four most stable adenine amino tautomers (9H, 7H, 3H, and 1H), modified by substitution (C2- or C8-) of electron-withdrawing NO2 and electron-donating NH2 groups, are studied theoretically in the gas phase and in solvents of different polarities (1 ≤ ε < 109). Solvents have been modeled using the polarizable continuum model. Comparison of the stability of substituted adenine tautomers in various solvents shows that substitution can change tautomeric preferences with respect to the unsubstituted adenine. Moreover, C8 substitution results in slight energy differences between tautomers in polar solvents (<1 kcal/mol), which suggests that in aqueous solution, C8-X-substituted adenine systems may consist of a considerable amount of two tautomers-9H and 7H for X = NH2 and 3H and 9H for X = NO2. Furthermore, solvation enhances the effect of the nitro group; however, the enhancement strongly depends on the proximity effects. This enhancement for the NO2 group with two repulsive N···ON contacts can be threefold higher than that for the NO2 with one attractive NH···ON contact. The proximity effects are even more significant for the NH2 group, as the solvation may increase or decrease its electron-donating ability, depending on the type of proximity.

Mutual Relations between Substituent Effect, Hydrogen Bonding, and Aromaticity in Adenine-Uracil and Adenine-Adenine Base Pairs

The electronic structure of substituted molecules is governed, to a significant extent, by the substituent effect (SE). In this paper, SEs in selected nucleic acid base pairs (Watson-Crick, Hoogsteen, adenine-adenine) are analyzed, with special emphasis on their influence on intramolecular interactions, aromaticity, and base pair hydrogen bonding. Quantum chemistry methods-DFT calculations, the natural bond orbital (NBO) approach, the Harmonic Oscillator Model of Aromaticity (HOMA) index, the charge of the substituent active region (cSAR) model, and the quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM)-are used to compare SEs acting on adenine moiety and H-bonds from various substitution positions. Comparisons of classical SEs in adenine with those observed in para- and meta-substituted benzenes allow for the better interpretation of the obtained results. Hydrogen bond stability and its other characteristics (e.g., covalency) can be significantly changed as a result of the SE, and its consequences are dependent on the substitution position. These changes allow us to investigate specific relations between H-bond parameters, leading to conclusions concerning the nature of hydrogen bonding in adenine dimers-e.g., H-bonds formed by five-membered ring nitrogen acceptor atoms have an inferior, less pronounced covalent nature as compared to those formed by six-membered ring nitrogen. The energies of individual H-bonds (obtained by the NBO method) are analyzed and compared to those predicted by the Espinosa-Molins-Lecomte (EML) model. Moreover, both SE and H-bonds can significantly affect the aromaticity of adenine rings; long-distance SEs on π-electron delocalization are also documented.

Substituted adenine quartets: interplay between substituent effect, hydrogen bonding, and aromaticity

Adenine, one of the components of DNA/RNA helices, has the ability to form self-organizing structures with cyclic hydrogen bonds (A₄), similar to guanine quartets. Here, we report a computational investigation of the effect of substituents (X = NO₂, Cl, F, H, Me, and NH₂) on the electronic structure of 9H-adenine and its quartets (A₄-N1, A₄-N3, and A₄-N7). DFT calculations were used to show the relationships between the electronic nature of the substituents, strength of H-bonds in the quartets, and aromaticity of five- and six-membered rings of adenine. We demonstrated how the remote substituent X modifies the proton-donating properties of the NH₂ group involved in the H-bonds within quartets and how the position of the substituent and its electronic nature affect the stability of the quartets. We also showed the possible changes in electronic properties of the substituent and aromaticity of adenine rings caused by tetramer formation. The results indicate that the observed relationships depend on the A₄ type. Moreover, the same substituent can both strengthen and weaken intermolecular interactions, depending on the substitution position.

Substituent effects on hydrogen bonds in adenine quartets and aromaticity of adenine rings depend on the quartet type. A₄-N3 and A₄-N7 quartets are more responsive to the electronic nature of substituents than A₄-N1.

Substituent effects on the stability of the four most stable tautomers of adenine and purine

Substituent effects at the C2-, C8- and N-positions of adenine and purine in their four the most stable tautomers are studied by means of B97D3/aug-cc-pvdz computation applying substituents of varying electronic properties: NO₂, CN, CHO, Cl, F, H, Me, OMe, OH and NH₂. The substituent effect is characterized by the substituent effect stabilization energy (SESE) and substituent Hammett constant σ. For adenine, SESE is obtained with purine as the reference system. Additionally, for both adenine and purine, SESE characteristics are estimated with benzene, imidazole and amino-pyrimidine as reference systems, when possible, taking into account substitution in topologically equivalent positions. The role of a C6-NH₂ group in adenine in modifying the substitution effect is observed and discussed. Additionally, the proximity effect for some asymmetric substituents (e.g. CHO, OMe) is recognized and meticulously analyzed.

Theoretical Investigation on the Substituent Effect of Halogen Atoms at the C8 Position of Adenine: Relative Stability, Vibrational Frequencies, and Raman Spectra of Tautomers

We have theoretically investigated the substituent effect of adenine at the C8 position with a substituent X = H, F, Cl, and Br by using the density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d, p) level. The aim is to study the substituent effect of halogen atoms on the relative stability, vibrational frequencies, and solvation effect of tautomers. Our calculated results show that for substituted adenine molecules the N9H8X tautomer to be the most stable structure in gas phase at the present theoretical level. Here N9H8X denotes the hydrogen atom binds to the N9 position of imidazole ring and X denotes H, F, Cl, and Br atoms. The influence of the induced attraction of the fluorine substituent is significantly larger than chlorine and bromine ones. The halogen substituent effect has a significant influence on changes of vibrational frequencies and Raman intensities.