Influence of 5-Fluorination on the Structure and Glycosidic Bond Stability of the Protonated Canonical DNA and RNA Cytidine Nucleosides: Oh, What A Difference the 2′-Hydroxy Substituent Makes?

Abstract

Fluorinated nucleosides are well-established as anticancer and antiviral medications. As with many pharmaceuticals, the effects of fluorine modifications are often only partially understood. In this work, the effects of 5-fluorination of the cytosine nucleobase on the structures and glycosidic bond stabilities of the protonated canonical DNA and RNA cytidine nucleosides (dCyd and Cyd) are examined. Infrared multiple photon dissociation action spectroscopy experiments and electronic structure calculations are employed to probe the structural influences of 5-fluorination. Spectral signatures in the IR fingerprint and hydrogen-stretching regions indicate that 5-fluorination heavily directs for and solely produces O2 protonation para to the 5-fluoro substituent. This differs from the canonical cytidine nucleosides where roughly equal populations of O2 and N3 protonated structures were observed. Energy-resolved collision-induced dissociation experiments combined with survival yield analyses are performed to probe the influence of 5-fluorination on glycosidic bond stability. Trends in the energy-dependence of the survival yield curves indicate that 5-fluorination weakens the glycosidic bond, and that the influence of 5-fluorination on glycosidic bond stability is much greater for dCyd than Cyd. Theory also finds that 5-fluorination weakens the glycosidic bond but predicts that the influence of 5-fluorination on N-glycosidic bond stability is roughly the same for dCyd and Cyd. Oh, what a difference the 2′-hydroxy substituent makes?