This work reports ESR studies that identify the favored site of deprotonation of the guanine cation radical (G• + ) in an aqueous medium at 77 K. Using ESR and UV-visible spectroscopy, one-electron oxidized guanine is investigated in frozen aqueous D 2

In this study, the acid–base properties of the adenine cation radical are investigated by means of experiment and theory. Adenine cation radical (A•+) is produced by one-electron oxidation of dAdo and of the stacked DNA-oligomer (dA)6 by Cl2•− in aqueous glass (7.5 M LiCl in H2O and in D2O) and investigated by ESR spectroscopy. Theoretical calculations and deuterium substitution at C8–H and N6–H in dAdo aid in our assignments of structure. We find the pKa value of A•+ in this system to be ca. 8 at 150 K in seeming contradiction to the accepted value of ≤ 1 at ambient temperature. However, upon thermal annealing to ≥160 K, complete deprotonation of A•+ occurs in dAdo in these glassy systems even at pH ca. 3. A•+ found in (dA)6 at 150 K also deprotonates on thermal annealing. The stability of A•+ at 150 K in these systems is attributed to charge delocalization between stacked bases. Theoretical calculations at various levels (DFT B3LYP/6-31G*, MPWB95, and HF-MP2) predict binding energies for the adenine stacked dimer cation radical of 12 to 16 kcal/mol. Further DFT B3LYP/6-31G* calculations predict that, in aqueous solution, monomeric A•+ should deprotonate spontaneously (a predicted pKa of ca. −0.3 for A•+). However, the charge resonance stabilized dimer AA•+ is predicted to result in a significant barrier to deprotonation and a calculated pKa of ca. 7 for the AA•+ dimer which is 7 pH units higher than the monomer. These theoretical and experimental results suggest that A•+ isolated in solution and A•+ in adenine stacks have highly differing acid–base properties resulting from the stabilization induced by hole delocalization within adenine stacks.

By use of ESR and UV-vis spectral studies, this work identifies the protonation states of one-electron oxidized G:C (viz. G•+:C, G(N1-H)•:C(+H+), G(N1-H)•:C, and G(N2-H)•:C) in a DNA oligomer d[TGCGCGCA]2. Benchmark ESR and UV-vis spectra from one electron oxidized 1-Me-dGuo are employed to analyze the spectral data obtained in one-electron oxidized d[TGCGCGCA]2 at various pHs. At pH ≥7, the initial site of deprotonation of one-electron oxidized d[TGCGCGCA]2 to the surrounding solvent is found to be at N1 forming G(N1-H)•:C at 155 K. However, upon annealing to 175 K, the site of deprotonation to the solvent shifts to an equilibrium mixture of G(N1-H)•:C and G(N2-H)•:C. For the first time, the presence of G(N2-H)•:C in a ds DNA-oligomer is shown to be easily distinguished from the other prototropic forms, owing to its readily observable nitrogen hyperfine coupling (Azz(N2)= 16 G). In addition, for the oligomer in H2O, an additional 8 G N2-H proton HFCC is found. This ESR identification is supported by a UV-vis absorption at 630 nm which is characteristic for G(N2-H)• in model compounds and oligomers. We find that the extent of photo-conversion to the C1′ sugar radical (C1′•) in the one-electron oxidized d[TGCGCGCA]2 allows for a clear distinction among the various G:C protonation states which can not be easily distinguished by ESR or UV-vis spectroscopies with this order for the extent of photo-conversion: G•+:C > G(N1-H)•:C(+H+) >> G(N1-H)•:C. We propose that it is the G•+:C form that undergoes deprotonation at the sugar and this requires reprotonation of G within the lifetime of exited state.

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Since its discovery over 50 years ago, the “structure” and properties of the hydrated electron has been a subject for wonderment and also fierce debate. In the present work we seriously explore a minimal model for the aqueous electron, consisting of a small water anion cluster embedded in a polarized continuum, using several levels of ab initio calculation and basis set. The minimum energy zero “Kelvin” structure found for any 4-water (or larger) anion cluster, at any post-Hartree-Fock theory level, is very similar to a recently reported embedded-DFT-in-classical-water-MD simulation (UMJ: Uhlig, Marsalek, and Jungwirth, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2012, 3, 3071-5), with four OH bonds oriented toward the maximum charge density in a small central “void”. The minimum calculation with just four water molecules does a remarkably good job of reproducing the resonance Raman properties, the radius of gyration derived from the optical spectrum, the vertical detachment energy, and the hydration free energy. For the first time we also successfully calculate the EPR g-factor and (low temperature ice) hyperfine couplings. The simple tetrahedral anion cluster model conforms very well to experiment, suggesting it does in fact represent the dominant structural motif of the hydrated electron.