Vous avez des questions? Nous pouvons vous aider. Pour communiquer directement avec un auteur, consultez la première page de la revue dans laquelle son article a été publié afin de trouver ses coordonnées. Si vous n'arrivez pas à les repérer, communiquez avec nous à PublicationsArchive-ArchivesPublications@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca. Questions? Contact the NRC Publications Archive team atPublicationsArchive-ArchivesPublications@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca. If you wish to email the authors directly, please see the first page of the publication for their contact information. NRC Publications Archive Archives des publications du CNRCThis publication could be one of several versions: author's original, accepted manuscript or the publisher's version. / La version de cette publication peut être l'une des suivantes : la version prépublication de l'auteur, la version acceptée du manuscrit ou la version de l'éditeur. NRC Publications Record / Notice d'Archives des publications de CNRC:http://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/view/object/?id=20900e4b-251a-45fe-bf49-a95e352fe29e http://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=20900e4b-251a-45fe-bf49-a95e352fe29e Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, 100 Sussex DriVe, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada ReceiVed: March 26, 2007; In Final Form: May 25, 2007 The reaction dynamics of excited electronic states in nucleic acid bases is a key process in DNA photodamage. Recent ultrafast spectroscopy experiments have shown multicomponent decays of excited uracil and thymine, tentatively assigned to nonadiabatic transitions involving multiple electronic states. Using both quantum chemistry and first principles quantum molecular dynamics methods we show that a true minimum on the bright S 2 electronic state is responsible for the first step that occurs on a femtosecond time scale. Thus the observed femtosecond decay does not correspond to surface crossing as previously thought. We suggest that subsequent barrier crossing to the minimal energy S 2 /S 1 conical intersection is responsible for the picosecond decay.

The UV chromophores in DNA are the nucleic bases themselves, and it is their photophysics and photochemistry that govern the intrinsic photostability of DNA. Because stability is related to the conversion of dangerous electronic to less-dangerous vibrational energy, we study ultrafast electronic relaxation processes in the DNA base adenine. We excite adenine, isolated in a molecular beam, to its * state and follow its relaxation dynamics using femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. To discern which processes are important on which timescales, we compare adenine with 9-methyl adenine. Methylation blocks the site of the much-discussed * state that had been thought, until now, minor. Time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that, although adenine and 9-methyl adenine show almost identical timescales for the processes involved, the decay pathways are quite different. Importantly, we confirm that in adenine at 267-nm excitation, the * state plays a major role. We discuss these results in the context of recent experimental and theoretical studies on adenine, proposing a model that accounts for all known results, and consider the relationship between these studies and electron-induced damage in DNA.dynamics ͉ photochemistry H ow did nature protect the genetic code from damage by harmful UV radiation? Presumably, DNA itself must have inherent protection mechanisms that quickly convert dangerous electronic excitation into less-dangerous vibrational energy that subsequently cools rapidly in solution. Unfortunately, the details of these mechanisms remain obscure (1). The main UV chromophores in DNA are the nucleotide bases themselves, and therefore it is their primary photophysics and interactions, both long-and short-range, which underlie DNA photostability. The isolated DNA bases are small enough to attempt detailed quantum chemical calculations, and considerable effort has been devoted to this area (for a recent review, see ref.

No abstract