Modulation of Excess Electron Transfer through LUMO Gradients in DNA Containing Phenanthrenyl Base Surrogates

The modulation of excess electron transfer (EET) within DNA containing a dimethylaminopyrene (C-AP) as an electron donor and 5-bromouracil (^Br dU) as an electron acceptor through phenanthrenyl pairs (phen-R) could be achieved by modifying the phenanthrenyl base surrogates with electron withdrawing and donating groups. Arranging the phenanthrenyl units to form a descending LUMO gradient increased the EET efficiency compared to the electron transfer through uniform LUMOs or an ascending LUMO gradient.