Towards excited state dynamics in nucleosides

这项提议的目的是研究DNA碱基腺嘌呤和鸟苷的超快紫外光诱导动力学，以此作为迈向核苷腺苷和鸟苷的垫脚石。资金将使PI能够将激光解吸到他的实验室中，以便这些核苷可以在真空中不分解，从而首次在气相中研究它们的超快光化学。互补的高水平计算将为解释实验结果提供关键指导，同时也给理论家带来新的挑战，因为这些研究将探索多条反应路径之间的复杂相互作用，以及这些路径相互耦合的方式，分子复杂性越来越高。PI、COI和RCoI是进行这项令人兴奋和雄心勃勃的研究的理想场所，这将开始弥合DNA碱基和核苷之间的光化学差距，并最终帮助阐明“生命光稳定性的分子机制”。

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'.