Towards excited state dynamics in nucleosides

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The objective of this proposal is to study ultrafast UV-laser-induced dynamics in the DNA bases adenine and guanine as a stepping stone towards the nucleosides adenosine and guanosine. Funding will enable the PI to implement laser desorption into his laboratory so that these nucleosides can be brought into vacuum without decomposition and hence their ultrafast photochemistry studied in the gas-phase for the first time. Complementary high level calculations will provide critical guidance to interpreting the experimental results whilst posing new challenges to theoreticians as these studies will explore the complex interplay between multiple reaction paths and the ways these paths are coupled with one another with increasing molecular complexity. The PI, CoI and RCoI are ideally placed to undertake this exciting and ambitious research, which will begin to bridge the gap between the photochemistry of the DNA bases and that of nucleosides, and ultimately help elucidate the 'molecular mechanisms of the photostability of life'.