TY - JOUR A1 - Stolar, Tomislav A1 - Pearce, Ben K.D. A1 - Etter, Martin A1 - Truong, Khai-Nghi A1 - Ostojić, Tea A1 - Krajnc, Andraž A1 - Mali, Gregor A1 - Rossi, Barbara A1 - Molčanov, Krešimir A1 - Lončarić, Ivor A1 - Meštrović, Ernest A1 - Užarević, Krunoslav A1 - Grisanti, Luca T1 - Base-pairing of uracil and 2,6-diaminopurine: from cocrystals to photoreactivity N2 - We show that the non-canonical nucleobase 2,6-diaminopurine (D) spontaneously base pairs with uracil (U) in water and the solid state without the need to be attached to the ribose-phosphate backbone. Depending on the reaction conditions, D and U assemble in thermodynamically stable hydrated and anhydrated D-U base-paired cocrystals. Under UV irradiation, an aqueous solution of D-U base-pair undergoes photochemical degradation, while a pure aqueous solution of U does not. Our simulations suggest that D may trigger the U photodimerization and show that complementary base-pairing modifies the photochemical properties of nucleobases, which might have implications for prebiotic chemistry. KW - Mechanochemistry KW - In situ monitoring KW - Cocrystals PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-608622 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109894 VL - 27 IS - 6 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-60862 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -