Electron addition, thymine hydroperoxides

Solid state O NMR spectroscopy, 185 Solutions, transition metal peroxide characterization, 1068-72 Solvated electron addition, thymine hydroperoxide formation, 926-7 Solvents... 

An almost complete description of both OH radical-mediated and one-electron oxidation reactions of the thymine moiety (3) of DNA and related model compounds is now possible on the basis of detailed studies of the final oxidation products and their radical precursors. Relevant information on the structure and redox properties of transient pyrimidine radicals is available from pulse radiolysis measurements that in most cases have involved the use of the redox titration technique. It may be noted that most of the rate constants implicating the formation and the fate of the latter radicals have been also assessed. This has been completed by the isolation and characterization of the main thymine and thymidine hydroperoxides that arise from the fate of the pyrimidine radicals in aerated aqueous solutions. Information is also available on the formation of thymine hydroperoxides as the result of initial addition of radiation-induced reductive species including H" atom and solvated electron. 

Interestingly, one-electron oxidants partly mimic the effects of OH radicals in their oxidizing reactions with the thymine moiety of nucleosides and DNA. In fact, the main reaction of OH radicals with 1 is addition at C-5 that yields reducing radicals in about 60% yield [34, 38]. The yield of OH radical addition at C-6 is 35% for thymidine (1) whereas the yield of hydrogen abstraction on the methyl group that leads to the formation of 5-methyl-(2 -de-oxyuridylyl) radical (9) is a minor process (5%). Thus, the two major differences in terms of product analysis between the oxidation of dThd by one-electron oxidants and that by the OH radical are the distribution of thymidine 5-hydroxy-6-hydroperoxide diastereomers and the overall percentage of methyl oxidation products. 

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