title: Theoretical Studies on the Photochemistry of Pentose Aminooxazoline, a Hypothetical Intermediate Product in the Prebiotic Synthetic Scenario of RNA Nucleotides.
abstract: 2-Aminooxazole is generally considered a prebiotic precursor of ribonucleotides on the early earth. Its pentose compound, pentose aminooxazoline, has been suggested to be a key intermediate in the prebiotic synthetic scenario. In this article, detailed mechanism of the photochemistry of pentose aminooxazoline has been studied by performing density functional theory and multireference complete active space self-consistent field calculations. Parallel to the "ring-puckering" process, which leads to ultrafast nonradiative deactivation, several other photodissociation channels are explored in detail. In addition, the influences of the pentose structure and solvation effects with both implicit and explicit water models have been uncovered for both neutral and protonated forms. The current theoretical results provide very important information not only for the photostability of RNA nucleotides but also for an in-depth understanding of the synthesis of other prebiotic nucleotides.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, North China Electric Power University , Beijing 102206, China.
authors.forename: Yuejie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ai
authors.affiliation: College of Life and Environmental Science, Minzu University of China , Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Shuhua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry and Service Failure, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Wuhan 430074, China.
authors.forename: Rong-Zhen
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Liao
mesh_terms: D010080:Oxazoles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D010429:Pentoses / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D056692:Prebiotics; D011789:Quantum Theory; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: C518811:2-aminooxazole; D010080:Oxazoles; D010429:Pentoses; D056692:Prebiotics; D014867:Water; D012313:RNA