MECHANISMS FOR THE DECOMPOSITION OF HYDROXYL-RADICAL-INDUCED CYTOSINE HYDROPEROXIDES: A COMPUTATIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Hydroxyl-radical-induced damage to cytosine leads to a multitude of base modifications, which contribute to the natural processes of aging, mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. The stable products resulting from the main hydroxyl-radical-induced cytosine hydroperoxide, 5-hydroxy-6-hydroperoxyl-5,6-dihydrocytosine (5-OH-6-OOH-DHC), have been mapped out in the present work for the first time using ab initio calculations. Optimized geometries of all stationary structures in the gas phase were determined at the MP2 and B3LYP using the 6-31G(d) basis set and at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) levels of theory. Energies were also determined at the G3MP2 level of theory. Meanwhile, full optimization of all stationary points were also performed in aqueous solution at the B3LYP/CPCM/6-31G(d) level of theory to evaluate the solvent effect. Three distinct possible pathways, pathways A–C, were evaluated. For pathway C, four channels, channels D–G, were characterized in turn. In each pathway, both the direct and the water-mediated processes were considered. The calculated results clearly manifest that (i) pathway C is kinetically favored over pathways A and B and is the most energetically feasible decomposition process of 5-OH-6-OOH-DHC; (ii) for pathway C, channels D, E and G are energetically feasible mechanisms and 6,7-dihydroxy-[1,3,5]triazepane-2,4-dione, 1-carbamoyl-2-oxo-4,5-dihydroxyimidazolidine, and biuret therefore are predicted to be the kinetically favored decomposition products of 5-OH-6-OOH-DHC; (iii) channel G may be kinetically favored over channels D and E and have the highest possibility to occur; (iv) the thermal decomposition of 5-OH-6-OOH-DHC can be significantly promoted by the presence of one explicit water molecule. Apart from characterizing the experimental products well, the main striking result of the present DFT computational study is the identification of a new theoretical optimum decomposition product, i.e. 6,7-dihydroxy-[1,3,5]triazepane-2,4-dione. The data and insights presented here have elucidated the chemical properties of 5-OH-6-OOH-DHC in free radical reactions and should facilitate to assess their mutagenic features.