How does the long G·G* Watson–Crick DNA base mispair comprising keto and enol tautomers of the guanine tautomerise? The results of a QM/QTAIM investigation

Abstract

The double proton transfer (DPT) in the long G·G* Watson–Crick base mispair (|C6N1(G*)N1C6(G)| = 36.4°; C₁ symmetry), involving keto and enol tautomers of the guanine (G) nucleobase, along two intermolecular neighboring O6H⋯O6 (8.39) and N1⋯HN1 (6.14 kcal mol⁻¹) H-bonds that were established to be slightly anti-cooperative, leads to its transformation into the G*·G base mispair through a single transition state (|C6N1N1C6| = 37.1°; C₁), namely to the interconversion into itself. It was shown that the G·G* ↔ G*·G tautomerisation via the DPT is assisted by the third specific contact, that sequentially switches along the intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC) in an original way: (G)N2H⋯N2(G*) H-bond (−25.13 to −10.37) → N2⋯N2 van der Waals contact (−10.37 to −9.23) → (G)N2⋯HN2(G*) H-bond (−9.23 to 0.79) → (G*)N2⋯HN2(G) H-bond (0.79 to 7.35 Bohr). The DPT tautomerisation was found to proceed through the asynchronous concerted mechanism by employing the QM/QTAIM approach and the methodology of the scans of the geometric, electron-topological, energetic, polar and NBO properties along the IRC. Nine key points, that can be considered as part of the tautomerisation repertoire, have been established and analyzed in detail. Furthermore, it was shown that the G·G* or G*·G base mispair is a thermodynamically and dynamically stable structure with a lifetime of 8.22 × 10⁻¹⁰ s and all 6 low-frequency intermolecular vibrations are able to develop during this time span. Lastly, our results highlight the importance of the G·G* ↔ G*·G DPT tautomerisation, which can have implications for biological and chemical sensing applications.