The determination of absolute electron affinities of the purines and pyrimidines in DNA and RNA from reversible reduction potentials

Electron and hole interactions with P, Z, and P:Z and the formation of mutagenic products by proton transfer reactions

Z would act as an electron acceptor and P would capture a hole in the unnatural DNA. The latter process would produce mutagenic products via a proton transfer reaction.

Microhydration effects on the structures and electrophilic properties of cytidine

Adiabatic electron affinities (AEAs) for cytidine hydrates with up to four water molecules.

Fragmentation of the adenine and guanine molecules induced by electron collisions

Secondary electron emission is the most important stage in the mechanism of radiation damage to DNA biopolymers induced by primary ionizing radiation. These secondary electrons ejected by the primary electron impacts can produce further ionizations, initiating an avalanche effect, leading to genome damage through the energy transfer from the primary objects to sensitive biomolecular targets, such as nitrogenous bases, saccharides, and other DNA and peptide components. In this work, the formation of positive and negative ions of purine bases of nucleic acids (adenine and guanine molecules) under the impact of slow electrons (from 0.1 till 200 eV) is studied by the crossed electron and molecular beams technique. The method used makes it possible to measure the molecular beam intensity and determine the total cross-sections for the formation of positive and negative ions of the studied molecules, their energy dependences, and absolute values. It is found that the maximum cross section for formation of the adenine and guanine positive ions is reached at about 90 eV energy of the electron beam and their absolute values are equal to 2.8 × 10(-15) and 3.2 × 10(-15) cm(2), respectively. The total cross section for formation of the negative ions is 6.1 × 10(-18) and 7.6 × 10(-18) cm(2) at the energy of 1.1 eV for adenine and guanine, respectively. The absolute cross-section values for the molecular ions are measured and the cross-sections of dissociative ionization are determined. Quantum chemical calculations are performed for the studied molecules, ions and fragments for interpretation of the crossed beams experiments.

Variations of the tautomeric preferences and π-electron delocalization for the neutral and redox forms of purine when proceeding from the gas phase (DFT) to water (PCM)

Quantum-chemical calculations were performed for all possible nine neutral tautomers of purine and their oxidized and reduced forms in water {PCM//DFT(B3LYP)/6-311+G(d,p)} and compared to those in the gas phase {DFT(B3LYP)/6-311+G(d,p)}. PCM hydration influences geometries, π-electron delocalization, and relative energies of purine tautomers in different ways. Generally, the harmonic oscillator model of electron delocalization (HOMED) indices increase when proceeding from the gas phase to aequeous solution for the neutral and redox forms of purine. Their changes for the neutral and oxidized tautomers are almost parallel to the relative energies showing that aromaticity plays an important role in the tautomeric preferences. Tautomeric stabilities and tautomeric preferences vary when proceeding from the gas phase to water indicating additionally that intra- and intermolecular interactions affect tautomeric equilibria. The tautomeric mixture of neutral purine in the gas phase consists mainly of the N9H tautomer, whereas two tautomers (N9H and N7H) dominate in water. For oxidized purine, N9H is favored in the gas phase, whereas N1H in water. A gain of one electron dramatically changes the relative stabilities of the CH and NH tautomers that C6H and C8H dominate in the tautomeric mixture in the gas phase, whereas N3H in water. These variations show exceptional sensitivity of the tautomeric purine system on environment in the electron-transfer reactions.

Structures, electrophilic properties, and hydrogen bonds of cytidine, uridine, and their radical anions: Microhydration effects

Structures, electrophilic properties, and hydrogen bonds of the neutral and anionic monohydrated nucleoside, (cytidine)H2O, and (uridine)H2O have been systematically investigated using density functional theory. Various water-binding sites were predicted by explicitly considering the optimized monohydrated structures. Meanwhile, predictions of electron affinities and vertical detachment energies were also carried out to investigate their electrophilic properties. By examining the singly occupied molecular orbital and natural population analysis, we found the excess negative charge is localized on the cytidine and uridine moiety in anionic monohydrates. This may be the reason why the strength of hydrogen bonding undergoes an obvious change upon the extra electron attachment. Based on the electron density (ρ) and reduced density gradient (RDG), we present an approach to map and analyze the weak interaction (especially hydrogen bond) in monohydrated cytidine and uridine. The scatter plots of RDG versus ρ allow us to identify the different type interactions. Meanwhile, the maps of the gradient isosurfaces show a rich visualization of hydrogen bond, van der Waals interaction, and steric effect.

DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORY STUDY ON THE IONIZATION POTENTIALS AND ELECTRON AFFINITIES OF ADENINE–FORMAMIDE COMPLEXES

The effects of hydrogen bond interactions upon ionization potentials (IPs) and electron affinities (EAs) of adenine–formamide (AF) complexes have been investigated employing the density functional theory B3LYP. It is found that the hydrogen bond interactions between adenine and formamide play a more important role in the process of electron attachment than in the process of electron detachment. Meanwhile, the hydrogen bond interactions facilitate the adiabatical electron detachment and attachment but have different effects on the vertical electron detachment and attachment with different positions of formamide. Furthermore, when the complexes were dissociated to the free monomers, the processes AF - → A - + F and AF + → A + + F are energetically preferable for AF- and AF+, respectively.

Electron attachment to hydrated oligonucleotide dimers: guanylyl-3',5'-cytidine and cytidylyl-3',5'-guanosine

The dinucleoside phosphate deoxycytidylyl-3',5'-deoxyguanosine (dCpdG) and deoxyguanylyl-3',5'-deoxycytidine (dGpdC) systems are among the largest to be studied by reliable theoretical methods. Exploring electron attachment to these subunits of DNA single strands provides significant progress toward definitive predictions of the electron affinities of DNA single strands. The adiabatic electron affinities of the oligonucleotides are found to be sequence dependent. Deoxycytidine (dC) on the 5' end, dCpdG, has larger adiabatic electron affinity (AEA, 0.90 eV) than dC on the 3' end of the oligomer (dGpdC, 0.66 eV). The geometric features, molecular orbital analyses, and charge distribution studies for the radical anions of the cytidine-containing oligonucleotides demonstrate that the excess electron in these anionic systems is dominantly located on the cytosine nucleobase moiety. The pi-stacking interaction between nucleobases G and C seems unlikely to improve the electron-capturing ability of the oligonucleotide dimers. The influence of the neighboring base on the electron-capturing ability of cytosine should be attributed to the intensified proton accepting-donating interaction between the bases. The present investigation demonstrates that the vertical detachment energies (VDEs) of the radical anions of the oligonucleotides dGpdC and dCpdG are significantly larger than those of the corresponding nucleotides. Consequently, reactions with low activation barriers, such as those for O-C sigma bond and N-glycosidic bond breakage, might be expected for the radical anions of the guanosine-cytosine mixed oligonucleotides.

Solvent effects on ionization potentials of guanine runs and chemically modified guanine in duplex DNA: effect of electrostatic interaction and its reduction due to solvent

We examined the ionization potential (IP) corresponding to the free energy of a hole on duplex DNA by semiempirical molecular orbital theory with a continuum solvent model. As for the contiguous guanines (a guanine run), we found that the IP in the gas phase significantly decreases with the increasing number of nucleotide pairs of the guanine run, whereas the IP in water (OP, oxidation potential) only slightly does. The latter result is consistent with the experimental result for DNA oligomers in water. This decrease in the IP is mainly due to the attractive electrostatic interaction between the hole and a nucleotide pair in the duplex DNA. This interaction is reduced in water, which results in the small decrease in the IP in water. This mechanism explains the discrepancy between the experimental result and the previous computational results obtained by neglecting the solvent. As for the chemically modified guanine, the previous work showed that the removal of some solvent (water) molecules due to the attachment of a neutral functional group to a guanine in a duplex DNA stabilizes the hole on the guanine. One might naively have expected the opposite case, since a polar solvent usually stabilizes ions. This mechanism also explains this unexpected stabilization of a hole as follows. When some water molecules are removed, the attractive electrostatic interaction stabilizing the hole increases, and thus, the hole is stabilized. In order to design the hole energetics by a chemical modification of DNA, this mechanism has to be taken into account and can be used.

Ab initio determination of the electron affinities of DNA and RNA nucleobases

High-level quantum-chemical ab initio coupled-cluster and multiconfigurational perturbation methods have been used to compute the vertical and adiabatic electron affinities of the five canonical DNA and RNA nucleobases: uracil, thymine, cytosine, adenine, and guanine. The present results aim for the accurate determination of the intrinsic electron acceptor properties of the isolated nucleic acid bases as described by their electron affinities, establishing an overall set of theoretical reference values at a level not reported before and helping to rule out less reliable theoretical and experimental data and to calibrate theoretical strategies.

Formation of spectral intermediate G-C and A-T anion complex in duplex DNA studied by pulse radiolysis

The dynamics of electron adducts of 2'-deoxynucleotides and oligonucelotides (ODNs) were measured spectroscopically by nanosecond pulse radiolysis. The radical anions of the nucleotides were produced within 10 ns by the reaction of hydrated electrons (e(aq)(-)) and were protonated to form the corresponding neutral radicals. At pH 7.0, the radical anion of deoxythymidine (dT(*-)) was protonated to form the neutral radical dT(H)(*) in the time range of microseconds. The rate constant for the protonation was determined as 1.8 x 10(10) M(-1) s(-1). In contrast, the neutral radical of dC(H)(*) was formed immediately after the pulse, suggesting that the protonation occurs within 10 ns. The transient spectra of excess electrons of the double-stranded ODNs 5'-TAATTTAATAT-3' (AT) and 5'-CGGCCCGGCGC-3' (GC) differed from those of pyrimidine radicals (C and T) and their composite. In contrast, the spectra of the electron adducts of the single-stranded ODNs GC and AT exhibited characteristics of C and T, respectively. These results suggest that, in duplex ODNs, the spectral intermediates of G-C and A-T anions complex were formed. On the microsecond time scale, the subsequent changes in absorbance of the ODN AT had a first-order rate constant of 4 x 10(4) s(-1), reflecting the protonation of T.

The electron affinities of deprotonated adenine, guanine, cytosine, uracil, and thymine

Electron attachment rates and gas phase acidities for the canonical tautomers of the nucleobases and electron affinities for thymine, deprotonated thymine, and cytosine are reported The latter are from a new analysis of published photoelectron spectra. The values for deprotonated thymine are (all in eV) keto-N1-H, 3.327(5); enol-N3-H, 3.250(5), enol-C2OH, 3.120(5) enol-N1-H, 3.013(5), and enol-C4OH,3.123(5). The values for deprotonated cytosine, keto-N1-H, 3.184(5); trans-NH-H, 3.008(5); cis-NH-H, 3.039(5); and enol-N1-H, 2.750(5) and enol-O-H, 2.950(5). The gas phase acidities from these values are obtained from these values using experimental or theoretical calculations of bond dissociation energies. Kinetic and thermodynamic properties for thermal electron attachment to thymine are obtained from mass spectrometric data. We report an activation energy of 0.60 eV and electron affinity of thymine, 1.0(1) eV.

The electronic structure of the four nucleotide bases in DNA, of their stacks, and of their homopolynucleotides in the absence and presence of water

Using the ab initio Hartree-Fock crystal orbital method in its linear combination of atomic orbital form, the energy band structure of the four homo-DNA-base stacks and those of poly(adenilic acid), polythymidine, and polycytidine were calculated both in the absence and presence of their surrounding water molecules. For these computations Clementi's double zeta basis set was applied. To facilitate the interpretation of the results, the calculations were supplemented by the calculations of the six narrow bands above the conduction band of poly(guanilic acid) with water. Further, the sugar-phosphate chain as well as the water structures around poly(adenilic acid) and polythymidine, respectively, were computed. Three important features have emerged from these calculations. (1) The nonbase-type or water-type bands in the fundamental gap are all close to the corresponding conduction bands. (2) The very broad conduction band (1.70 eV) of the guanine stack is split off to seven narrow bands in the case of poly(guanilic acid) (both without and with water) showing that in the energy range of the originally guanine-stack-type conduction band, states belonging to the sugar, to PO(4)(-), to Na(+), and to water mix with the guanine-type states. (3) It is apparent that at the homopolynucleotides with water in three cases the valence bands are very similar (polycytidine, because it has a very narrow valence band, does not fall into this category). We have supplemented these calculations by the computation of correlation effects on the band structures of the base stacks by solving the inverse Dyson equation in its diagonal approximation taken for the self-energy the MP2 many body perturbation theory expression. In all cases the too large fundamental gap decreased by 2-3 eV. In most cases the widths of the valence and conduction bands, respectively, decreased (but not in all cases). This unusual behavior is most probably due to the rather large complexity of the systems. From all this emerges the following picture for the charge transport in DNA: There is a possibility in short segments of the DNA helix of a Bloch-type conduction of holes through the nucleotide base stacks of DNA combined with hopping (and in a lesser degree with tunneling). The motivation of this large scale computation was that recently in Zurich (ETH) they have performed high resolution x-ray diffraction experiments on the structure of the nucleosomes. The 8 nucleohistones in them are wrapped around by a DNA superhelix of 147 base pairs in the DNA B form. The most recent investigations have shown that between the DNA superhelix (mostly from its PO(4) (-) groups) there is a charge transfer to the positively charged side chains (first of all arginines and lysines) of the histones at 120 sites of the superhelix. This would cause a hole conduction in DNA and an electronic one in the proteins.

Understanding electron attachment to the DNA double helix: the thymidine monophosphate-adenine pair in the gas phase and aqueous solution

Electron attachment to the 2'-deoxythymidine-5'-monophosphate-adenine pairs (5'-dTMPH-A and 5'-dTMP(-)-A) has been investigated at a carefully calibrated level of theory (B3LYP/DZP++) to investigate the electron-accepting properties of thymine (T) in the DNA double helix under physiological conditions. All molecular structures have been fully optimized in vacuo and in solution. The adiabatic electron affinity of 5'-dTMPH-A in the gas phase has been predicted to be 0.67 eV. Solvent effects greatly increase the electron capture ability of 5'-dTMPH-A. In fact, the adiabatic electron affinity increases to 2.04 eV with solvation. The influence of the solvent environment on the electron-attracting properties of 5'-dTMPH-A arises not only from the stabilization of the corresponding radical anion through charge-dipole interactions, but also by changing the distribution of the unpaired electron in the molecular system. The unpaired electron is covalently bound even during vertical attachment, due to the solvent effects. Solvent effects also weaken the pairing interaction in the thymidine monophosphate-adenine complexes. The phosphate deprotonation is found to have a relatively minor influence on the capture of electrons by the 5'-dTMPH-A species in aqueous solution. The electron distributions, natural population analysis, and geometrical features of the models examined illustrate that the influence of the phosphate deprotonation is limited to the phosphate moiety in aqueous solution. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that electron attachment to nucleotides will be independent of monovalent counterions in the vicinity of the phosphate group in aqueous solution.

The 2'-deoxyadenosine-5'-phosphate anion, the analogous radical, and the different hydrogen-abstracted radical anions: molecular structures and effects on DNA damage

The 2'-deoxyadenosine-5'-phosphate (5'-dAMP) anion and its related radicals have been studied by reliably calibrated theoretical approaches. This study reveals important physical characteristics of 5'-dAMP radical related processes. One-electron oxidation of the 5'-dAMP anion is found on both the phosphoryl group and the adenine base with electron detachment energies close to that of phosphate. Partial removal of electron density from the adenine fragment leads to an extended pi system which includes the amine group of the adenine. Although the radical-centered carbon increases the extent of bonding with its adjacent atoms, it usually weakens the chemical bonds between the atoms at the alpha- and beta-positions. This tendency should be important in predicting the reactivity of the sugar-based radicals. The overall stability sequence of the H-abstracted 5'-dAMP anionic radicals is consistent with the analogous results for the H-abstracted neutral radicals of the adenosine nucleoside: aliphatic radicals > aromatic radicals. The negatively charged phosphoryl group attached to atom C(5)' of the ribose does not change this energetic sequence. All the H-abstraction produced 5'-dAMP radical anions are distonic radical anions. Studies have shown that the charge-radical-separating feature of the distonic radical anions is biologically relevant. This result should be important in understanding the reactive properties of these H-abstraction-produced anion radicals.

Computational studies of DNA photolyase

The electron transfer catalyzed (ETC) repair of the DNA photolesion cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD) is mediated by the enzyme DNA photolyase. Due to its importance as part of the cancer prevention mechanism in many organisms, but also due to its unique mechanism, this DNA photoreactivation is a topic of intense study. The progress in the application of computational methods to three aspects of the ETC repair of CPD is reviewed: (i) electronic structure calculations of the cycloreversion of the CPD radical cation and radical anion, (ii) MD simulations of the DNA photolyase and its complex to photodamaged DNA, and (iii) the structure and dynamics of photodamaged DNA. The contributions of this work to the overall understanding of the reaction and its relationship to the available experimental work are highlighted.

Microhydration of cytosine and its radical anion: Cytosine∙(H2O)n (n=1–5)

Microhydration effects on cytosine and its radical anion have been investigated theoretically, by explicitly considering various structures of cytosine complexes with up to five water molecules. Each successive water molecule (through n=5) is bound by 7-10 kcal mol(-1) to the relevant cytosine complex. The hydration energies are uniformly higher for the analogous anion systems. While the predicted vertical detachment energy (VDE) of the isolated cytosine is only 0.48 eV, it is predicted to increase to 1.27 eV for the lowest-lying pentahydrate of cytosine. The adiabatic electron affinity (AEA) of cytosine was also found to increase from 0.03 to 0.61 eV for the pentahydrate, implying that the cytosine anion, while questionable in the gas phase, is bound in aqueous solution. Both the VDE and AEA values for cytosine are smaller than those of uracil and thymine for a given hydration number. These results are in qualitative agreement with available experimental results from photodetachment-photoelectron spectroscopy studies of Schiedt et al. [Chem. Phys. 239, 511 (1998)].

Effects of microsolvation on uracil and its radical anion: Uracil∙(H2O)n (n=1–5)

Microsolvation effects on the stabilities of uracil and its anion have been investigated by explicitly considering the structures of complexes of uracil with up to five water molecules at the B3LYPDZP++ level of theory. For all five systems, the global minimum of the neutral cluster has a different equilibrium geometry from that of the radical anion. Both the vertical detachment energy (VDE) and adiabatic electron affinity (AEA) of uracil are predicted to increase gradually with the number of hydrating molecules, qualitatively consistent with experimental results from a photodetachment-photoelectron spectroscopy study [J. Schiedt et al., Chem. Phys. 239, 511 (1998)]. The trend in the AEAs implies that while the conventional valence radical anion of uracil is only marginally bound in the gas phase, it will form a stable anion in aqueous solution. The gas-phase AEA of uracil (0.24 eV) was higher than that of thymine by 0.04 eV and this gap was not significantly affected by microsolvation. The largest AEA is that predicted for uracil(H2O)5, namely, 0.96 eV. The VDEs range from 0.76 to 1.78 eV.

Hydrogen Atom and Hydride Anion Addition to Adenine: Structures and Energetics

The radicals and anions derived from the 9H tautomer of adenine by adding a hydrogen atom to one of the four double bonds of the adenine framework have been studied. Computations were carried out using a carefully calibrated density functional (B3LYP) method and basis set (DZP++). Optimized geometries, energies, and vibrational frequencies are predicted for eight radicals and anions. The radicals are found to lie in a range of 22 kcal mol(-1), with the radical derived by addition to the C(8) carbon atom being the lowest lying energetically. The anions are predicted to be bound species in the gas phase with an energetic range of 43 kcal mol(-1). Anions produced by addition of a hydride ion to adenine carbon atoms are found to be the most favorable. Six of the anions are predicted to be stable species with respect to electron detachment. The adiabatic electron affinities, vertical electron affinities, and vertical detachment energies are computed for the first time. Electron affinities for these radicals range from 0.0 to 2.0 eV. Radicals produced by addition to a nitrogen atom have near-zero adiabatic electron affinities, while radicals produced by addition at carbon atoms have considerably higher electron affinities.

Microsolvation effects on the electron capturing ability of thymine: Thymine-water clusters

The effects of solvation on the stability of thymine and its negative ion have been investigated by explicitly considering the structures of complexes of thymine with up to five water molecules and the respective anions at the B3LYP/DZP++ level of theory. The vertical detachment energy of thymine was predicted to increase gradually with the hydration number, consistent with experimental observations from a photodetachment-photoelectron spectroscopy study J. Schiedt et al., [Chem. Phys. 239, 511 (1998)]. The adiabatic electron affinity of thymine was also found to increase with the hydration number, which implies that while the conventional valence anion of thymine is only marginally bound in the gas phase, it may form a stable anion in aqueous solution.

Binding of Gold Clusters with DNA Base Pairs: A Density Functional Study of Neutral and Anionic GC−Aun and AT−Aun (n = 4, 8) Complexes

Binding of clusters of gold atoms (Au) with the guanine-cytosine (GC) and adenine-thymine (AT) Watson-Crick DNA base pairs was studied using the density functional theory (DFT). Geometries of the neutral GC-Au(n) and AT-Au(n) and the corresponding anionic (GC-Au(n))(-1) and (AT-Au(n))(-1) (n = 4, 8) complexes were fully optimized in different electronic states, that is, singlet and triplet states for the neutral complexes and doublet and quartet states for the anionic complexes, using the B3LYP density functional method. The 6-31+G basis set was used for all atoms except gold. For gold atoms, the Los Alamos effective core potential (ECP) basis set LanL2DZ was employed. Vibrational frequency calculations were performed to ensure that the optimized structures corresponded to potential energy surface minima. The gold clusters around the neutral GC and AT base pairs have a T-shaped structure, which satisfactorily resemble those observed experimentally and in other theoretical studies. However, in anionic GC and AT base pairs, the gold clusters have extended zigzag and T-shaped structures. We found that guanine and adenine have high affinity for Au clusters, with their N3 and N7 sites being preferentially involved in binding with the same. The calculated adiabatic electron affinities (AEAs) of the GC-Au(n)complexes (n = 4, 8) were found to be much larger than those of the isolated base pairs.

The deprotonated guanine-cytosine base pair

Awareness of the harmful effects of radiation has increased interest in finding the mechanisms of DNA damage. Radical and anion formation among the DNA base pairs are thought to be important steps in such damage [Collins, G. P. (2003) Sci. Am. 289 (3), 26-27]. Energetic properties and optimized geometries of 10 radicals and their respective anions derived through hydrogen abstraction from the Watson-Crick guanine-cytosine (G-C) base pair have been studied using reliable theoretical methods. The most favorable deprotonated structure (dissociation energy 42 kcal x mol(-1), vertical detachment energy 3.79 eV) ejects the proton analogous to the cytosine glycosidic bond in DNA. This structure is a surprisingly large 12 kcal x mol(-1) lower in energy than any of the other nine deprotonated G-C structures. This system retains the qualitative G-C structure but with the H...O2 distance dramatically reduced from 1.88 to 1.58 A, an extremely short hydrogen bond. The most interesting deprotonated G-C structure is a "reverse wobble" incorporating two N-H...N hydrogen bonds. Three different types of relaxation energies (4.3-54 kcal x mol(-1)) are defined and reported to evaluate the energy released via different mechanisms for the preparation of the deprotonated species. Relative energies, adiabatic electron affinities (ranging from 1.93 to 3.65 eV), and pairing energies are determined to discern which radical will most alter the G-C properties. The most stable deprotonated base pair corresponds to the radical with the largest adiabatic electron affinity, 3.65 eV. This value is an enormous increase over the electron affinity (0.60 eV) of the closed-shell G-C base pair.

Microsolvation Effect, Hydrogen-Bonding Pattern, and Electron Affinity of the Uracil−Water Complexes U−(H2O)n (n = 1, 2, 3)

To achieve a systematic understanding of the influence of microsolvation on the electron accepting behaviors of nucleobases, the reliable theoretical method (B3LYP/DZP++) has been applied to a comprehensive conformational investigation on the uracil-water complexes U-(H(2)O)(n) (n = 1, 2, 3) in both neutral and anionic forms. For the neutral complexes, the conformers of hydration on the O2 of uracil are energetically favored. However, hydration on the O4 atom of uracil is more stable for the radical anions. The electron structure analysis for the H-bonding patterns reveal that the CH...OH(2) type H-bond exists only for di- and trihydrated uracil complexes in which a water dimer or trimer is involved. The electron density structure analysis and the atoms-in-molecules (AIM) analysis for U-(H(2)O)(n) suggest a threshold value of the bond critical point (BCP) density to justify the CH...OH(2) type H-bond; that is, CH...OH(2) could be considered to be a H-bond only when its BCP density value is equal to or larger than 0.010 au. The positive adiabatic electron affinity (AEA) and vertical detachment energy (VDE) values for the uracil-water complexes suggest that these hydrated uracil anions are stable. Moreover, the average AEA and VDE of U-(H(2)O)(n) increase as the number of the hydration waters increases.

Structural and Energetic Characterization of a DNA Nucleoside Pair and Its Anion: Deoxyriboadenosine (dA) − Deoxyribothymidine (dT)

The geometries of the DNA nucleoside pairs between 2'-deoxyriboadenosine (dA) and 2'-deoxyribothymidine (dT) and its anion (dAdT-) were fully optimized using carefully calibrated density functional methods. The addition of an electron to dAdT results in remarkable changes to the two hydrogen bonding distances, the H...O distance decreasing by 0.303 angstroms and the N...H distance increasing by 0.229 angstroms. The electron affinity of the dAdT pair was studied to reveal the correct trends of adiabatic electron affinity (EA(ad)) under the influence of the additional components to the individual bases. The consequence of negative charge in terms of structural variations, energetic changes, and charge distribution were explored. The EA(ad) of dAdT is predicted to be positive (0.60 eV), and it exhibits a substantial increase compared with those of the corresponding bases A and T and the nucleic acid base pair AT. The effects of pairing and the addition of the sugar moiety on the EA(ad) are well described as the summation of the individual influences. The influence of the pairing on the EA is comparable to that of the addition of 2-deoxyribose. The excess charge is mainly located on the thyminyl moiety in the anionic dAdT pair. The positive vertical electron affinity (VEA = 0.20 eV) for dAdT suggests that it is able to form a stable anion through electron attachment. A large vertical detachment energy (VDE = 1.14 eV) has been determined for the anionic dAdT nucleoside pair. Therefore, one may expect that the stable anionic dAdT nucleoside pair should be able to undergo the subsequent glycosidic bond cleavage process.

Adiabatic Electron Affinities of the Polyhydrated Adenine−Thymine Base Pair: A Density Functional Study

Adiabatic electron affinities (AEAs) of the adenine-thymine (AT) base pair surrounded by 5 and 13 water molecules have been studied by density functional theory (DFT). Geometries of neutral AT x nH2O and anionic (AT x nH2O)- complexes (n = 5 and 13) were fully optimized, and vibrational frequency analysis was performed at the B3LYP/6-31+G** level of theory. The optimized structures of the neutral (AT x nH2O) and (AT x nH2O)- complexes were found to be somewhat nonplanar. Some of the water molecules are displaced away from the AT ring plane and linked with one another by hydrogen bonds. The optimized structures of the complexes are found to be in a satisfactory agreement with the observed experimental and molecular dynamics simulation results. In the optimized anionic complexes, the thymine (T) moiety was found to be puckered, whereas the adenine (A) moiety remained almost planar. Natural population analysis (NPA) performed using the B3LYP/6-31+G** method shows that the thymine moiety in the anionic (AT x nH2O)- complexes (n = 5 and 13) has most of the excess electronic charge, i.e., approximately -0.87 and approximately -0.81 (in the unit of magnitude of the electronic charge), respectively. The zero-point energy corrected adiabatic electron affinities of the hydrated AT base pair were found to be positive both for n = 5 and 13 and have the values of 0.97 and 0.92 eV, respectively, which are almost three times the AEA of the AT base pair. The results show that the presence of water molecules appreciably enhances the EA of the base pair.

On the capturing of low-energy electrons by DNA

Many of the mutagenic or lethal effects of ionization radiation can be attributed to damage caused to the DNA by low-energy electrons. To gain insight on the parameters affecting this process, we measured the low-energy electron (<2 eV) transmission yield through self-assembled monolayers of short DNA oligomers. The electrons that are not transmitted are captured by the layer. Hence, the transmission reflects the capturing efficiency of the electrons by the layer. The dependence of the capturing probability on the base sequence was studied, as was the state of the captured electrons. It is found that the capturing probability scales with the number of G bases in the single-stranded oligomers and depends on their clustering level. Using two-photon photoelectron spectroscopy, we find that, once captured, the electrons do not reside on the bases. Rather, the state of the captured electrons is insensitive to the sequence of the oligomer. Double-stranded DNA does not capture electrons as efficiently as single-stranded oligomers; however, once captured, the electrons are bound more strongly than to the single strands.

DNA Nucleosides and Their Radical Anions: Molecular Structures and Electron Affinities

The deoxyribonucleosides have been studied to determine the properties of combinations of 2-deoxyribose with each of the isolated DNA bases for both neutral and anionic species. We have used a carefully calibrated theoretical method [Chem. Rev. 2002, 102, 231], employing the B3LYP hybrid Hartree-Fock/DFT functional with the DZP++ basis set. Predictions are made of the geometric parameters, adiabatic electron affinities, charge distributions based on natural population analysis, and decomposition enthalpy for the neutral and anionic forms of the four 2'-deoxyribonucleosides in DNA: 2'-deoxyriboadenosine (dA), 2'-deoxyribocytidine (dC), 2'-deoxyriboguanosine (dG), and 2'-deoxyribothymidine (dT). Geometric changes in the anions show that the glycosidic bond exhibits little change with excess charge for the guanosine but significant shortening for the adenosine and for the pyrimidines. The zero-point corrected adiabatic electron affinities in eV for each of the 2'-deoxyribonucleosides are as follows: 0.06, dA; 0.09, dG; 0.33, dC; and 0.44, dT. These values are uniformly greater than those of the corresponding isolated bases (-0.28, A; -0.07, G; 0.03, C; 0.20, T) and the isolated 2-deoxyribose (-0.38) at the same level of theory. The vertical detachment energies of dT and dC are substantial, 0.72 and 0.94 eV, and these anions should be observable. A high VDE, 0.91 eV, is also found for dA but its anion is unlikely to be stable due to the small AEA of 0.06 eV. The high VDE reflects the fact that the molecular structures of the anions and the corresponding neutral species are quite different. Valence character is displayed for the SOMOs of dA, dC, and dT, while some component of diffuse character is visible in the SOMO of dG. Further analysis of electronic changes upon electron attachment include an examination of the NPA charges, which show that in the neutral 2'-deoxyribonucleosides the sum of NPA charges for every base is the same, -0.28 with the sum of 2-deoxyribose charges being positive, +0.28. In the anions, the trend in charge division varies based on the nature of the excess electron in the anions. Thermodynamically, the overall enthalpy change for the reaction of water with the neutral nucleosides to give bases and ribose is approximately zero. The analogous decomposition is exothermic by 8 to 11 kcal mol-1 for the anions, indicating possible challenges for anionic gas-phase nucleoside exploration in the presence of water.

Electron Binding to Nucleic Acid Bases. Experimental and Theoretical Studies. A Review

An in-depth knowledge of an excess electron binding mechanism to DNA and RNA nucleobases is important for our understanding of radiation damage influence on the biological functions of nucleic acids, as well as for the possible use of DNA molecules as wires in molecular electronic circuits. The of anions created by electron attachment to individual nucleic acid bases is discussed in detail. The principles of the experimental and theoretical approaches to the description of these anions are outlined, and the available results concerning valence- and dipole-bound anions of nucleic acid bases are reviewed. A review with 167 references.

A theoretical study of structures and electron affinities of radical anions of guanine-cytosine, adenine-thymine, and hypoxanthine-cytosine base pairs

Adiabatic electron affinities (AEA) and structural perturbations due to addition of an excess electron to each of the neutral guanine-cytosine (G-C), adenine-thymine (A-T), and hypoxanthine-cytosine (HX-C) base pairs were studied using the self-consistent charge, density functional tight-binding (SCC-DFTB-D) method, augmented by the empirical London dispersion energy term. Performance of the SCC-DFTB-D method was examined by comparing the calculated results using it with those obtained from experiment as well as ab initio and other different density functional theoretical studies. An excellent agreement between the SCC-DFTB-D results and those obtained by the other calculations regarding the structural modifications, hydrogen bonding, and dissociation energies of the neutral and radical anion base pairs was found. It is shown that adiabatic electron affinity can be better predicted by considering reaction enthalpies of formation of the respective neutral and anionic base pairs from their respective molecular components instead of taking the difference between their total energies. The calculated AEAs of the base pairs were compared with those obtained by the bracketing method from Schaefer and coworkers, where a satisfactory agreement was found. It shows applicability of the SCC-DFTB-D method to study charged DNA models at a highly economical computational cost.