Published in

American Chemical Society, Journal of Physical Chemistry B (Soft Condensed Matter and Biophysical Chemistry), 26(104), p. 6286-6292, 2000

DOI: 10.1021/jp0007134

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

C−H···O Contacts in the Adenine···Uracil Watson−Crick and Uracil···Uracil Nucleic Acid Base Pairs: Nonempirical ab Initio Study with Inclusion of Electron Correlation Effects

Journal article published in 2000 by Pavel Hobza, Jiří Šponer, Elena Cubero, Modesto Orozco, F. Javier Luque ORCID
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
  • Must obtain written permission from Editor
  • Must not violate ACS ethical Guidelines
Orange circle
Postprint: archiving restricted
  • Must obtain written permission from Editor
  • Must not violate ACS ethical Guidelines
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Structures and stabilities of H-bonded adenine···uracil Watson−Crick (AU WC) and two uracil···uracil nucleic acid base pairs possessing C−H···O contacts (UU7, UU−C) were determined using gradient optimization with inclusion of electron correlation via the second-order Møller−Plesset (MP2) perturbational method with a 6-31G** basis set of atomic orbitals. In the AU WC pair, closest contacts occur between the N6(A) and O4(U), N1(A) and N3(U), and C2(A) and O2(U) atoms:  2.969, 2.836, and 3.568 Å, respectively. For the UU7 pair the closest contact corresponds to O4···N1 and C5···O2 pairs with distances of 2.860 and 3.257 Å, respectively, while in UU−C pair the closest contact was found for O4···N3 and C5···O4 heteroatoms with distances of 2.913 and 3.236 Å, respectively. The nature of all intermolecular contacts in the sense of a conventional H-bonding or improper, blue-shifting H-bonding was determined on the basis of harmonic vibrational analysis, atom-in-molecules (AIM) Bader analysis of electron density, and natural bond orbital analysis (NBO) performed at the MP2/6-31G** level of theory. N−H stretch frequencies of A and U exhibited a red shift and intensity decrease upon formation of AU WC base pair. It unambiguously proves the existence of the N−H···O and O···H−N H-bonds. The frequency shift of the C−H stretching frequency of A upon complex formation is, however, marginal (2 cm-1). Bader AIM analysis and NBO analysis confirmed the existence of N−H···O and O···H−N H-bonds in the AU WC pair but was inconclusive in the case of C−H···O contact. The results thus clearly show that the C2−H2···O2 contact in the AU or AT WC base pair corresponds neither to standard H-bond nor to improper, blue-shifting H-bond. The opposite result, however, has been found for the UU pairs; here the vibrational analysis shows a red shift and intensity increase of both N−H and C−H stretching vibrational frequencies upon the formation of the pair. This is a clear manifestation of the presence of two H-bonds of the N−H···O and O···H−C types. Bader AIM analysis as well as NBO analysis confirmed the existence of both H-bonds.