6-Pyrazolylpurine as an Artificial Nucleobase for Metal-Mediated Base Pairing in DNA Duplexes

The artificial nucleobase 6-pyrazol-1-yl-purine (6PP) has been investigated with respect to its usability in metal-mediated base pairing. As was shown by temperature-dependent UV spectroscopy, 6PP may form weakly stabilizing 6PP-Ag(I)-6PP homo base pairs. Interestingly, 6PP can be used to selectively recognize a complementary pyrimidine nucleobase. The addition of Ag(I) to a DNA duplex comprising a central 6PP:C mispair (C = cytosine) leads to a slight destabilization of the duplex. In contrast, a stabilizing 6PP-Ag(I)-T base pair is formed with a complementary thymine (T) residue. It is interesting to note that 6PP is capable of differentiating between the pyrimidine moieties despite the fact that it is not as sterically crowded as 6-(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)purine, an artificial nucleobase that had previously been suggested for the recognition of nucleic acid sequences via the formation of a metal-mediated base pair. Hence, the additional methyl groups of 6-(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)purine may not be required for the specific recognition of the complementary nucleobase.