Initial excited-state structural dynamics of 2'-deoxyguanosine determined via UV resonance Raman spectroscopy.

The resonance Raman spectra of 2'-deoxyguanosine, a DNA nucleoside, were measured in aqueous solution at wavelengths throughout its 260 nm absorption band. Self-consistent analysis of the resulting resonance Raman excitation profiles and absorption spectrum using a time-dependent wave packet formalism with two electronic states yielded the initial excited-state structural dynamics in both states. The vibrational modes containing the N(7)═C(8) stretching and C(8)-H bending internal coordinates were found to exhibit significant initial structural dynamics upon photoexcitation to either state and are coincident with the photochemical reaction coordinate involving the formation of the 2'-deoxyguanosine cation radical.