Spectroscopic probe on N-H⋯N, N-H⋯O and controversial C-H⋯O contact in A-T base pair: a DFT study

IPPP-CLOPPA Analysis of the Hydrogen Bonds of the Adenine-Thymine Base Pair. Is C-H···O the Third Hydrogen Bond?

The IPPP-CLOPPA method is applied to investigate the feasibility of the C-H···O moiety as a third hydrogen bond in the adenine-thymine base pair, and the role of this intermolecular contact in its stability. For this purpose, an analysis of the interaction energy and the potential energy of the protons of the "conventional" intermolecular hydrogen bonds and the "unconventional" C-H···O contact is performed, in order to assess how much they contribute to the intermolecular stabilization energy of the base pair. On the same grounds, this study is complemented by the analysis of the molecular electric dipolar polarizability of the hydrogen bond moieties, in order to determine the information that this property can give about the electronic mechanisms that affect the stabilization of the hydrogen bonds, the influence of the π system on each one, and the cooperativity effects among them. The results obtained seem to confirm that the C-H···O moiety contributes to the stability of the adenine-thymine pair almost as much as the "conventional" hydrogen bonds do. Besides, this stabilization effect is strengthened by cooperativity between hydrogen bonds and, particularly and mostly, with the π system.

Complete Mesoscopic Parameterization of Single LNA Modifications in DNA Applied to Oncogene Probe Design

The use of mesoscopic models to describe the thermodynamic properties of locked nucleic acid (LNA)-modified nucleotides can provide useful insights into their properties, such as hydrogen-bonding and stacking interactions. In addition, the mesoscopic parameters can be used to optimize LNA insertion in probes, to achieve accurate melting temperature predictions, and to obtain duplex opening profiles at the base-pair level. Here, we applied this type of model to parameterize a large set of melting temperatures for LNA-modified sequences, from published sources, covering all possible nearest-neighbor configurations. We have found a very large increase in Morse potentials, which indicates very strong hydrogen bonding as the main cause of improved LNA thermodynamic stability. LNA-modified adenine-thymine (AT) was found to have similar hydrogen bonding to unmodified cytosine-guanine (CG) base pairs, while for LNA CG, we found exceptionally large hydrogen bonding. In contrast, stacking interactions, which were thought to be behind the stability of LNA, were similar to unmodified DNA in most cases. We applied the new LNA parameters to the design of BRAF, KRAS, and EGFR oncogene variants by testing all possible LNA modifications. Selected sequences were then synthesized and had their hybridization temperatures measured, achieving a prediction accuracy within 1 °C. We performed a detailed base-pair opening analysis to discuss specific aspects of these probe hybridizations that may be relevant for probe design.

Probing the Hydrogen-Bonding Environment of Individual Bases in DNA Duplexes with Isotope-Edited Infrared Spectroscopy

Measuring the strength of the hydrogen bonds between DNA base pairs is of vital importance for understanding how our genetic code is physically accessed and recognized in cells, particularly during replication and transcription. Therefore, it is important to develop probes for these key hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) that dictate events critical to cellular function, such as the localized melting of DNA. The vibrations of carbonyl bonds are well-known probes of their H-bonding environment, and their signals can be observed with infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Yet, pinpointing a single bond of interest in the complex IR spectrum of DNA is challenging due to the large number of carbonyl signals that overlap with each other. Here, we develop a method using isotope editing and infrared (IR) spectroscopy to isolate IR signals from the thymine (T) C2=O carbonyl. We use solvatochromatic studies to show that the TC2=O signal’s position in the IR spectrum is sensitive to the H-bonding capacity of the solvent. Our results indicate that C2=O of a single T base within DNA duplexes experiences weak H-bonding interactions. This finding is consistent with the existence of a third, noncanonical CH···O H-bond between adenine and thymine in both Watson–Crick and Hoogsteen base pairs in DNA.

An insight into the photophysical properties of amide hydrogen bonded N-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl) acetamide crystals

Three distinct, hydrogen bond associated N-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl) acetamides were synthesized by refluxing benzothiazoles with acetic acid. The nature of the assemblies was characteristic to the substituent in the benzothiazole moiety. In N-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)acetamide, water acts as a bridge for forming three hydrogen bonds, as an acceptor to amide NH, and donors to carbonyl of amide and thiazole nitrogen assembles of three different N-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)acetamide molecules. The N-(6-methylbenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)acetamide formed a (amide) N-H…N (thiazole) bonded R²₂(8) molecular dimers by two homo-intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions. N-(6-methoxybenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)acetamide formed (amide)N-H…O (acid) & (acid)O-H…N (thiazole) interactions with the acetic acid, forming a R²₂(8) hydrogen-bonded ring by two hetero-intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions.

Effects of Structure and Environment on the Spectroscopic Properties of (3-Amino-Substituted-Thieno[2,3-b] Pyridine-2-yl)Pyridine/Quinolin-2-yl)(Phenyl)Methanones: Experimental and Theoretical Study

The electronic absorption, excitation and fluorescence properties of two 3-amino-substituted-thieno[2,3-b]pyridine/quinolin-2-yl)(phenyl)methanones; (referred to as compounds 1-2: where 3-amino-4,5,6-trimethyl-thieno[2,3-b]pyridin-2-yl)(phenyl)methanone (1); and 3-amino-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-thieno[2,3-b]quinolin-2-yl)(phenyl)methanone (2)) have been investigated in solvents of various polarity and hydrogen-bonding abilities. Results based on the electronic absorption, excitation and emission study of these compounds; indicated that singlets (S1 and S2) excited-states are populated in non-polar and polar protic/aprotic solvents giving dual fluorescence with weak charge transfer separation. The experimental results were interpreted with the aid of quantum chemistry calculations carried out with the DFT and TD-DFT/B3lyp/6-31 + G(d,p) methods. Based on these calculations, compounds 1-2 exist in two rotamers: anti and syn, separated by ca. 5-6 kcal mol(-1) energy barriers in favor of the anti-conformer. The anti-structure, was shown to be stabilized through existence of intramolecular NH…O hydrogen bond (H-b), which plays a dominant role in affecting the energy of the HOMO-1 molecular orbital. Further, methyl/alkyl substitution in the pyridyl-thiophene ring was shown to involve in σ-π hyper-conjugation and destabilization of the HOMO-1 MO's.