Spontaneous tunneling and near-infrared-induced interconversion between the amino-hydroxy conformers of cytosine
- Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra, 3004-535 Coimbra (Portugal)
- Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotnikow 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw (Poland)
Spontaneous and near-infrared/infrared (NIR/IR)-induced interconversions between two amino-hydroxy conformers of monomeric cytosine have been investigated for the compound isolated in a low-temperature argon matrix. Combined use of a laser source (which provides narrowband NIR radiation) and a broadband NIR/IR source of excitation light allowed a detailed investigation of mutual conversions of the two conformers in question. The experiments carried out within the current work demonstrated that upon broadband NIR/IR irradiation (with the IR source of FTIR spectrometer) the population ratio of the two amino-hydroxy conformers changes towards a ratio corresponding to a photostationary state. Evolution of the conformer population ratio towards the photostationary ratio occurred independent of the initial ratio of conformers, which could be prepared by a population shift (in favor of one of the forms) induced by narrowband NIR excitation. Moreover, spontaneous tunneling conversion of the higher-energy conformer into a lower-energy form was observed for cytosine isolated in a low-temperature argon matrix kept in the dark. This process is slow and occurs on a time scale of days. The tunneling process, studied for matrix-isolated cytosine, clearly follows a dispersive type of kinetics rather than the classical monoexponential kinetics.
- OSTI ID:
- 22047171
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 136, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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