A quantum theoretical study of reactions of methyldiazonium ion with DNA base pairs

Abstract

Methylation of the DNA bases in the Watson-Crick GC and AT base pairs by the methyldiazonium ion was investigated employing density functional and second order Møller-Plesset (MP2) perturbation theories. Methylation at the N3, N7 and O6 sites of guanine, N1, N3 and N7 sites of adenine, O2 and N3 sites of cytosine and the O2 and O4 sites of thymine were considered. The computed reactivities for methylation follow the order N7(guanine) > N3(adenine) > O6(guanine) which is in agreement with experiment. The base pairing in DNA is found to play a significant role with regard to reactivities of the different sites. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.