Abstract
The structure of DNA is now very well known. The two helices that form the backbone are made up of alternating sugar and phosphate groups. Attached to the sugars are the bases, organic compounds consisting of one or two planar heterocycles and associated N, O, and H. There are four bases in DNA—guanine, cytosine, adenine, and thymine. In what follows these will be abbreviated G, C, A, and T, respectively. Hydrogen bonds connect one base from each helix with its complementary base from the other helix. Thus G is paired with C, A with T. The bases all have closed electronic shells. Guanine has the distinction of its highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) having the highest energy. Thus holes added to a DNA stack would tend to sit on a G.
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Conwell, E.M., Basko, D.M. (2003). Transport and Optical Properties of DNA. In: Charra, F., Agranovich, V.M., Kajzar, F. (eds) Organic Nanophotonics. NATO Science Series, vol 100. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0103-8_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0103-8_18
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