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The products of oxidative damage to double-stranded (ds) DNA initiated by photolytically generated sulfate radical anions SO4(•-) were analyzed using reverse-phase (RP) high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Relative efficiencies of two major pathways were compared: production of 8-oxoguanine (8oxoG) and hydrogen abstraction from the DNA 2-deoxyribose moiety (dR) at C1,' C4,' and C5' positions. The formation of 8oxoG was found to account for 87% of all quantified lesions at low illumination doses. The concentration of 8oxoG quickly reaches a steady state at about one 8oxoG per 100 base pairs due to further oxidation of its products. It was found that another guanine oxidation product identified as 2-amino-5-(2'-alkylamino)-4H-imidazol-4-one (X) was released in significant quantities from its tentative precursor 2-amino-5-[(2'-deoxy-β-d-erythro-pentofuranosyl)amino]-4H-imidazol-4-one (dIz) upon treatment with primary amines in neutral solutions. The linear dose dependence of X release points to the formation of dIz directly from guanine and not through oxidation of 8oxoG. The damage to dR was found to account for about 13% of the total damage, with majority of lesions (33%) originating from the C4' oxidation. The contribution of C1' oxidation also turned out to be significant (17% of all dR damages) despite of the steric problems associated with the abstraction of the C1'-hydrogen. However, no evidence of base-to-sugar free valence transfer as a possible alternative to direct hydrogen abstraction at C1' was found.

We developed a single crystal X-ray crystallography experiment based on the crystal structure of sucrose (table sugar), and a more challenging experiment using Epsom salt. Both crystals are readily available in X-ray quality crystalline form. In these experiments, students mounted a crystal on a MiTeGen loop and analyzed it using a Rigaku XtaLAB Mini diffractometer (built 2011). Students generated models of both compounds using CrysAlis Pro , Olex2, SHELXT, and SHELXL. All aspects of this experiment use free software programs which have user-friendly interfaces. A step-bystep laboratory protocol for determining the structure of both compounds is included in the Supporting Information. These experiments were used in the Fall of 2019 at the Junior and the Senior level. In the Summer of 2020, a take-home version of the lab was created in response to the Novel 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and implemented in the General Chemistry laboratory curriculum; this experiment was used for the duration of the 2020−2021 academic year. These experiments are suitable for all undergraduate experience levels.

A novel analytical high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based method of quantification of the yields of C4'-oxidized abasic sites, 1, in oxidatively damaged DNA has been elaborated. This new approach is based on efficient conversion of 1 into N-substituted 5-methylene-Δ(3)-pyrrolin-2-ones, 2, upon treatment of damaged DNA with primary amines in neutral or slightly acidic solutions with subsequent quantification of 2 by HPLC. The absolute and relative radiation-chemical yields of 1 in irradiated DNA solutions were re-evaluated using this method. The yields were compared with those of other 2-deoxyribose degradation products including 5-methylene-2(5H)-furanone, malondialdehyde, and furfural resulting from the C1', C4' and C5'-oxidations, respectively. The yield of free base release (FBR) determined in the same systems was employed as an internal measure of the total oxidative damage to the 2-deoxyribose moiety. Application of this technique identifies 1 as the most abundant sugar lesion in double-stranded (ds) DNA irradiated under air in solution (36% FBR). In single-stranded (ss) DNA this product is second by abundance (33% FBR) after 2-deoxyribonolactones (C1'-oxidation; 43% FBR). The production of nucleoside-5'-aldehydes (C5'-oxidation; 14% and 5% FBR in dsDNA and ssDNA, respectively) is in the third place. Taken together with the parallel reaction channel that converts C4'-radicals into malondialdehyde and 3'-phosphoglycolates, our results identify the C4'-oxidation as a prevalent pathway of oxidative damage to the sugar-phosphate backbone (50% or more of all 2-deoxyribose damages) in indirectly damaged DNA.