title: Direct measurement of the dynamics of excess electron transfer through consecutive thymine sequence in DNA.
abstract: Charge transfer in DNA is an essential process in biological systems because of its close relation to DNA damage and repair. DNA is also an important material used in nanotechnology for wiring and constructing various nanomaterials. Although hole transfer in DNA has been investigated by various researchers and the dynamic properties of this process have been well established, the dynamics of a negative charge, that is, excess electron, in DNA have not been revealed until now. In the present paper, we directly measured the rate of excess electron transfer (EET) through a consecutive thymine (T) sequence in nicked-dumbbell DNAs conjugated with a tetrathiophene derivative (4T) as an electron donor and diphenylacetylene (DPA) as an electron acceptor at both ends. The selective excitation of 4T by a femtosecond laser pulse caused the excess electron injection into DNA, and led to EET in DNA by a consecutive T-hopping mechanism, which eventually formed the DPA radical anion (DPA(•-)). The rate constant for the process of EET through consecutive T was determined to be (4.4 ± 0.3) × 10(10) s(-1) from an analysis of the kinetic traces of the ΔO.D. during the laser flash photolysis. It should be emphasized that the EET rate constant for T-hopping is faster than the rate constants for oxidative hole transfers in DNA (10(4) to 10(10) s(-1) for A- and G-hopping).
authors: The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (SANKEN), Osaka University, Mihogaoka 8-1, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan.
authors: Man Jae
authors: MJ
authors: Park
authors: Mamoru
authors: M
authors: Fujitsuka
authors: Kiyohiko
authors: K
authors: Kawai
authors: Tetsuro
authors: T
authors: Majima
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004579:Electron Transport; D007700:Kinetics; D010782:Photolysis; D013876:Thiophenes / Q000737:chemistry; D013941:Thymine / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D013876:Thiophenes; D004247:DNA; D013941:Thymine