Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Theoretical Investigations of Gaseous Doubly Deprotonated 2'-Deoxynucleoside 5'-Monophosphate Dianions.

A better understanding of the mechanism of oxidative DNA damage requires obtaining a molecular level description of nucleotides in various charge states. Herein, we report a systematic photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical investigation of the electronic and geometric structures of four doubly deprotonated 2'-deoxynucleoside 5'-monophosphate dianions, the smallest quintessential DNA building block. These dianions are intrinsically stable with their adiabatic/vertical detachment energies (ADE/VDE) ranging from 0.85/1.07 (A) and 1.05/1.30 (G) to 1.20/1.50 (C) and 1.80/2.10 eV (T). The repulsive Coulomb barrier against electron detachment is 2.0 eV for purines and 2.5 eV for pyrimidines. Dianions are deprotonated at the phosphate group and the amino group of a nucleobase. The π-type HOMO orbital resides on the nucleobase moiety for each dianion. This spatial distribution of HOMO suggests that the most loosely bound electron is detached along the direction perpendicular to the nucleobase. When combined with the previous results, this work makes complete the depiction of basic building blocks of DNA at the molecular level.