Tautomerization of bases

Tautomerization of bases in DNA. The most stable forms of adenine and cytosine are the amino conformations. With low probability these bases can tautomerize into the imino form if this occurs during replication, an incorrect base pair (a point mutation) may result. The stable forms of guanine and thymine are the keto conformations the enol conformations also can result in mistakes in base pairing during replication. 

Methyl groups can be added to bases in DNA. Except for some yeasts and insects, all DNA contains methylated bases. The attachment of methyl groups to bases at specific sequences in DNA acts to regulate the functions of DNA. One function of site-specific methylation in prokaryotes is to protect endogenous bacterial DNA from digestion by restriction endonucleases produced by the bacteria. 

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J. -L. Martin Prof. Zewail, how do you expect your work on pho-toinduced tautomerization of base pairs to apply to the real world of DNA, where such a reaction would happen on ground-state potential surface in a water environment ... 

At this point, it may be interesting to indicate that the fact that the G-C pairs constitute the unstable part of the genome and that they mutate spontaneously more frequently than the A-T pairs has been reported in a number of publications.180-182 One cannot and should not, however, conclude from this situation that miscouplings through tautomerization of bases are the principal cause of spontaneous mutations, because those are definitely known to be due to a large series of causes, the relative importance of which is difficult to ascertain. The concordance between the theoretical predictions and the experimental facts is, however, worthwhile stressing, as an eventual discordance would certainly have been by some. 

MP2 and DFT studies of the DNA rare base pairs the molecular mechanism of the spontaneous substitution mutations conditioned by tautomerism of bases ... 

Hydroxyquinolines (Quinolinols). A number of methods have been employed for their preparation. A modified Chichibabia reaction of quinoline ia fused KOH—NaOH at 240°C produces 70% of 2-hydroxyquiQoline [59-31-4] (121). Alternative names based on the facile keto—enol tautomerism of two of these compounds are 2(1H) and 4(lJd)-quiQolinone none of the other quinolinols show this property. The treatment of... 

Pyrrolethiols, readily obtained from the corresponding thiocyanates by reduction or treatment with alkali, rapidly oxidize to the corresponding disulfides. They are converted into thioethers by reaction with alkyl halides in the presence of base. Both furan- and thiophene-thiols exist predominantly as such rather than in tautomeric thione forms. 

In the genuine low-temperature chemical conversion, which implies the incoherent tunneling regime, the time dependence of the reactant and product concentrations is detected in one way or another. From these kinetic data the rate constant is inferred. An example of such a case is the important in biology tautomerization of free-base porphyrines (H2P) and phtalocyanins (H2PC), involving transfer of two hydrogen atoms between equivalent positions in the square formed by four N atoms inside a planar 16-member heterocycle (fig. 42). 

We now discuss the annular tautomerism of azoles. For 5-phenyltetra-zole, the 2//-tautomer was found predominant in polyvinyl alcohol film (based on the determination of polarization angles of electronic transition... 

The base-catalyzed tautomerization of 4-methyl-4//-cyclopenta[c]thio-phenes 193 to the corresponding 6-methyl derivative 194 has been investigated quantitatively. Second-order rate constants and activation parameters have been determined (75CS42). 

Smith et al determined the activation barrier for H2OETNP by NMR in CD2CI2 at 300 MHz (ZIGI73 = 55.2 kJ mor )(94JA3261) and found it to be similar to that measured for NH tautomerism in other free-base dodeca-substituted porphyrins (90JA8851, 92JA9859, 93IC1716). Finnish authors have reported a detailed study of the tautomerism of a natural chlorin. 

Free carbenes based on 1,2,4-triazole are not as numerous as those based on imidazole (70ZN(B)1421, 95AGE1021, 97JA6668, 98JA9100). The carbene complex 169 (Ar = Ph, p-Tol) is prepared by the [3 + 2] cycloaddition route from [W(CO)j(C+=NC-HCOOEt)]- and aryldiazonium (930M3241). Oxidative decomplexation causes tautomerization of the 1,2,4-triazole ligand, the products being 170 (Ar= Ph, i-Tol). 

Triamterene (31) is a diuretic that has found acceptance because it results in enhanced sodium ion excretion without serious loss of potassium ion or significant uric acid retention. Tautomerism of aminopyrimidines (e.g., 27a and 27b) serves to make the "nonenolized" amine at the 5 position more basic than the remaining amines. Thus, condensation of 27 with benzaldehyde goes at the most basic nitrogen to form 28. Addition of hydrogen cyanide gives the a-aminonitrile (29). Treatment of that intermediate with base leads to the eyelized dihydropirazine compound (30). This undergoes spontaneous air oxidation to afford triamterene (31). ... 

Base catalyzed nitrile hydrolysis involves nucleophilic addition of hydroxide ion to the polar C N bond to give an imine anion in a process similar to nucleophilic addition to a polar C=0 bond to give an alkoxide anion. Protonation then gives a hydroxy imine, which tautomerizes (Section 8.4) to an amide in a step similar to the tautomerization of an enol to a ketone. The mechanism is shown in Figure 20.4. 

Keto-enol tautomerism of carbon) ] compounds is catalyzed by both acids and bases. Acid catalysis occurs by protonation of the carbonyl oxygen atom to give an intermediate cation that Joses H+ from its a carbon to yield a neutral enol (Figure 22.1). This proton loss from the cation intermediate is similar to what occurs during an El reaction when a carbocation loses H+ to form an alkene (Section 11.10). 

The knowledge of the valence tautomerization of benzene oxides to oxepins12 prompted several groups to synthesize oxepins by dehydrohalogenation of 7-oxabicyclo[4.1.0]heptane derivatives. Numerous examples have been described for the base-catalyzed elimination of hydrogen bromide from the 3,4-dibromo-7-oxabicyclo[4.1.0]heptane system. The reaction products are usually obtained as mixtures of oxepin 1 and benzene oxide 2. The 2,7-bis(hydroxy-methyl)oxepin 1 p obtained by this route can be converted to the 2,7-dicarbaldehyde with man-ganese(IV) oxide.23... 

In 1882 Griess discovered that in aqueous acidic solution 4-diazobenzenesulfonate and 4-methylaniline react quantitatively to yield 4-toluenediazonium ion and 4-ami-nobenzenesulfonic acid. This phenomenon is called diazo migration or diazo exchange. We now know that it is a consequence of the tautomerism of the initially formed l-(4 -methylphenyl)-3-(4 -sulfophenyl)-triazene, as discussed above. Griess also found another reaction that could not be explained at his time, but which is based on the tautomerism of intermediate triazenes occasionally, the reaction of an arenediazonium salt with a primary aromatic amine in weakly acidic solution yields a mixture of two isomeric aminoazo compounds (Scheme 13-21). 

The lUPAC designation is De -I- Ae. First-order kinetics are predicted and many such examples have been found. Other evidence for the SeI mechanism was obtained in a study of base-catalyzed tautomerization. In the reaction the rate of... 

Although the conversion of an aldehyde or a ketone to its enol tautomer is not generally a preparative procedure, the reactions do have their preparative aspects. If a full mole of base per mole of ketone is used, the enolate ion (10) is formed and can be isolated (see, e.g., 10-105). When enol ethers or esters are hydrolyzed, the enols initially formed immediately tautomerize to the aldehydes or ketones. In addition, the overall processes (forward plus reverse reactions) are often used for equilibration purposes. When an optically active compound in which the chirality is due to an asymmetric carbon a to a carbonyl group (as in 11) is treated with acid or base, racemization results. If there is another asymmetric center in the molecule. 

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