Microhydration Effects on the Ultrafast Photodynamics of Cytosine: Evidences for a Possible Hydration-Site Dependence

Ultrafast excited-state deactivation dynamics of small cytosine (Cy) and 1-methylcytosine (1mCy) microhydrates, Cy⋅(H2O)1-3 and 1mCy⋅(H2O)1,2, produced in a supersonic expansion have been studied by mass-selected femtosecond pump-probe photoionization spectroscopy at about 267 nm excitation. The seeded supersonic expansion of Ar/H2O gas mixtures allowed an extensive structural relaxation of Cy and 1mCy microhydrates to low-energy isomers. With the aid of electronic structure calculations, we assigned the observed ultrafast dynamics to the dominant microhydrate isomers of the amino-keto tautomer of Cy and 1mCy. Excited-state lifetimes of Cy⋅(H2O)1-3 measured here are 0.2-0.5 ps. Comparisons of the Cy⋅H2O and 1mCy⋅H2O transients suggest that monohydration at the amino Watson-Crick site induces a substantially stronger effect than at the sugar-edge site in accelerating excited-state deactivation of Cy.