Transient proton transfer of base pair hydrogen bonds induced by intense terahertz radiation

Kaicheng Wang; Lixia Yang; Shaomeng Wang; Lianghao Guo; Jialu Ma; Jingchao Tang; Wenfei Bo; Zhe Wu; Baoqing Zeng; Yubin Gong

doi:10.1039/D0CP01247E

Transient proton transfer of base pair hydrogen bonds induced by intense terahertz radiation

Kaicheng Wang,

^a Lixia Yang,

^b Shaomeng Wang,

^c Lianghao Guo,

^a Jialu Ma,

^a Jingchao Tang,

^a Wenfei Bo,

^a Zhe Wu,

^d Baoqing Zeng

^a and Yubin Gong

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a School of Electronic Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 4, Section 2, North Jianshe Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
E-mail: ybgong@uestc.edu.cn

^b School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 4, Section 2, North Jianshe Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

^c School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

^d School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 4, Section 2, North Jianshe Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Abstract

Local oriented intense electric fields play a vital role in biochemical reactions such as enzyme catalysis. Many researchers have gradually applied external oriented electric fields to control specific chemical reactions. The rapidly developing intense field of terahertz technology can provide a strong enough oriented electric field with specific polarization direction on a sub-picosecond timescale, which matches the timescale and intensity requirements for affecting specific ultrafast chemical reactions. Inspired by this, this paper theoretically studied the full quantum model of the proton transfer process in DNA base pair hydrogen bonds induced by intense terahertz radiation (ITR) with a sub-picosecond-oriented electric field through simulation based on density functional theory (DFT) and the Schrodinger equation. The result shows that the ITR with an electric field intensity up to 10 GV m⁻¹ in a specific polarization direction can precisely control the proton transfer process in the base pair hydrogen bonds. Based on flexible optical methods, the ITR is expected to go beyond the traditional techniques for applying strong electric fields to chemical systems through solid electrodes and become a catalyst for controlling chemical reactions or a scalpel to manipulate molecular structures.

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

Transient proton transfer of base pair hydrogen bonds induced by intense terahertz radiation

Abstract

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Transient proton transfer of base pair hydrogen bonds induced by intense terahertz radiation

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