Nuclear magnetic relaxation studies of cytidine and its complexing dimethyl sulfoxide solution.

13C spin-lattice relazation times (T1 values) in cytidine were determined experimentally to investigate molecular motions of both metal-free and ion-complexed cytidines in dimethylsulfoxide solutions. It was found that the correlation times of the protonated carbons were equal within experimental error, and this equality of correlation times of different sites of the molecule suggests strongly isotropic random motion of the molecule. Correlation times for internal motion of the amino group obtained from the observed T1 of the amino protons are 4.6 -10(-11) S, 2.0 - 10(-9) S and 1.1 - 10(-10) S for the metal-free cytidine and the cytidine complexed with either CaCl2 or ZnCl2, respectively. An experimental value of T1 of the H6 proton of the cytidine base agrees very well with the value estimated from a conformation determined by the nuclear "Overhauser" effect. Spin-lattice relaxation time measurements of the 7Li nucleus in the LiCl/cytidine system strongly suggested that the 7Li cation is directly coordinated with cytidine.