Experimental and theoretical ab initio study of the influence of N-methylation on the dipole-bound electron affinities of thymine and uracil

The influence of N-methylation on the dipole-bound electron affinities of pyrimidine nucleic acid bases, uracil and thymine, has been investigated theoretically using ab initio quantum mechanical calculations, and experimentally using Rydberg electron transfer spectroscopy. Both experiment and theory are consistent in showing that replacement of hydrogen atoms by methyl groups reduces electron affinities corresponding to formation of dipole-bound anions of these systems. Also, the distortion of the anion geometries with respect to the geometries of the neutral parents are reduced with the methylation. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)00124-5].