Ab initio molecular dynamics relaxation and intersystem crossing mechanisms of 5-azacytosine.

The gas phase relaxation dynamics of photoexcited 5-azacytosine has been investigated by means of SHARC (surface-hopping including arbitrary couplings) molecular dynamics, based on accurate multireference electronic structure computations. Both singlet and triplet states were included in the simulations in order to investigate the different internal conversion and intersystem crossing pathways of this molecule. It was found that after excitation, 5-azacytosine undergoes ultrafast relaxation to the electronic ground state with a time constant of about 1 picosecond. Two important conical intersections have been identified as the funnel responsible for this deactivation mechanism. The very low intersystem crossing yield of 5-azacytosine has been explained by the size of the relevant spin-orbit coupling matrix elements, which are significantly smaller than in related molecules like cytosine or 6-azauracil. This difference is due to the fact that in 5-azacytosine the lowest singlet state is of nNπ* nature, whereas in cytosine and 6-azauracil it is of nOπ* character.

Electronic structure and absorption spectra of fluorescent nucleoside analogues.

This work presents a systematic investigation of the electronic and conformational properties of five new fluorescent nucleobases belonging to the alphabet based on the isothiazole[4,3-d]pyrimidine molecule, very recently synthesized. This is of particular importance in the characterization of the main electronic aspects of these fluorescent nucleosides. The solvent effects of 1,4-dioxane and water were included combining the Sequential Monte Carlo/CASPT2 and the Free Energy Gradient (FEG) methods. For comparison, the Polarizable Continuum method was also used. The geometries of all compounds were optimized in solvent with the largest effects observed in water using the average solvent electrostatic configuration (ASEC) and the FEG approaches. Statistical analysis of the solute-solvent hydrogen bonds is performed and their effect on the absorption spectra analyzed. The dipole moments were calculated and the value obtained from the ASEC-FEG method in water follows the same trend as the natural canonical bases (adenine → uracil → guanine → cytosine). The theoretical results for the absorption spectra obtained from CASPT2(18,13) calculations using the geometries obtained with the ASEC-FEG procedure are in very good agreement with the experimental data. A detailed elucidation of the main aspects of the absorption spectra of the five new fluorescent nucleoside analogues is successfully attempted.