•  
  •  
 

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

DOI

10.55730/1300-0527.3490

Abstract

We performed a theoretical study, at the BLYP/aug-cc-pVDZ theoretical level, of the mechanisms of H-transfer between biologically relevant tautomers of cytosine and guanine. The analysis of the ground- and excited state energy barriers of the conversions showed that in some cases they are lower as compared to the ground state reactions. The inclusion of one water molecule as a catalyst in the oxo-amino form of cytosine and guanine drastically changes the mechanism of the reactions in the ground as well as in the excited state. For example, the ground state reaction path of cytosine reduces the energy barrier from 165 to 60 kJ.mol-1 and for guanine, this reduction is from 92 kJ.mol-1 to 24 kJ.mol-1. The results obtained are in support to the high photostability of the nucleic acid bases which guarantee the normal biological function of nucleic acids.

Keywords

DFT calculations, excited states, nucleic acid bases, tautomerizations

First Page

1909

Last Page

1917

Included in

Chemistry Commons

Share

COinS