Nucleic acid derivatives studied by preresonance and resonance Raman spectroscopy in the ultraviolet region

Raman spectra of AMP, UTP, GMP, and CMP, and of their bromo-derivatives (8 Br-ATP, 8-bromo-adenosine, 8-bromo-guanosine, 5-bromo-deoxyuridine, 5-bromo-cytidine), are reported. They are obtained using excitation wavelengths of 457.9 nm (ionized continuous argon laser) and of 300 nm (tunable pulsed dye laser). Comparison of spectra leads to the following observations: (1) preresonances Raman effects on nucleotides spectra at 300 nm; (2) resonance Raman effects on bromoderivatives spectra at 300 nm; (3) in dilute solution (10^?4M), shifts and enhancements of Raman lines of the bromo-derivatives with respect to the corresponding lines of nucleoctides. On the basis of these comparisons, the assignments of the Raman lines are discussed, This provide the necessary background for the understanding of the properties of selected groups in DNA in dilute solution. The new experimental set-up for measurements of Raman spectra using excitation in the uv regions is described. It is specially designed to incorporate the pulsed feature of the excitation laser and for correcting of the instabilities of the sourse.