Theoretical investigation of the molecular structure of the pi kappa DNA base pair

The structure of the nonclassical pi kappa base pair (7-methyl-oxoformycin B. . .2,4-diaminopyrimidine) was studied at the ab initio Hartree-Fock (HF) and MP2 levels using the 6-31G* and 6-31G** basis sets. The pi kappa base pair is bound by three parallel hydrogen bonds with the donor-acceptor-donor recognition pattern. Recently, these bases were proposed as an extension of the genetic alphabet from four to six letters (Piccirilli et al, Nature 343,33 (1990)). By the HF/6-31G* method with full geometry optimization we calculated the 12 degree propeller twist for the minimum energy structure of this complex. The linearity of hydrogen bonds is preserved in the twisted structure by virtue of the pyramidal arrangement of the kappa-base amino groups. The rings of both the pi and kappa molecules remain nearly planar. This nonplanar structure of the pi kappa base pair is only 0.1 kcal/mol more stable than the planar (Cs) conformation. The HF/6-31G* level gas-phase interaction energy of pi kappa (-13.5 kcal/mol) calculated by us turned out to be nearly the same as the interaction energy obtained previously for the adenine-thymine base pair (-13.4 kcal/mol) at the same computational level. The inclusion of p-polarization functions on hydrogens, electron correlation effects (MP2/6-31G** level), and the correction for the basis set superposition error (BSSE) increase this energy to -14.0 kcal/mol.