ISSN:
0020-7608
Keywords:
Computational Chemistry and Molecular Modeling
;
Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
A new base pair (called κ-π) of Watson-Crick type, with a H-bond pattern different from that in A-T and G-C base pairs, has been recently synthesized and shown to be stable and incorporable into duplex DNA and RNA by polymerases. This new basepair, which contains three H-bonds, is compared with G-C, in the framework of modern dynamical theory of quantum nonlocality and quantum correlations. Connection with the traditional treatment of proton transfer in DNA base pairs, which uses the adiabatic approximation, is explicitly made. As a result, the dynamics of the H-bond pattern of G-C is shown to exhibit a specific quantum mechanical phase stability, which is clearly missing in the case of κ-π. This finding is discussed and illustrated, also in connection with recent quantum chemical calculations of proton transfers in DNA base pairs. Additionally, certain speculations concerning the “evolutionary advantage” of G-C with respect to κ-π are briefly considered. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/qua.560460313
