Hydrogen bonding in Cytosine and Guanine

Click For Summary
SUMMARY

Cytosine and guanine form three hydrogen bonds in their base pairing, which is crucial for DNA stability. The discussion clarifies that hydrogen bonds can occur between nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O) atoms, even when these atoms are not directly bonded to hydrogen (H). Specifically, in cytosine and guanine, the oxygen atoms possess lone pairs that allow them to act as hydrogen bond acceptors, while the nitrogen atoms can serve as hydrogen bond donors. This contrasts with carbon dioxide (CO2), which cannot form hydrogen bonds due to its nonpolar nature and lack of hydrogen atoms.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of hydrogen bonding principles
  • Familiarity with molecular polarity
  • Knowledge of base pairing in nucleic acids
  • Basic chemistry concepts regarding lone pairs and dipole moments
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the role of hydrogen bonds in DNA stability
  • Study the properties of polar and nonpolar molecules
  • Explore the concept of molecular dipole moments
  • Learn about the interactions between nucleobases in DNA and RNA
USEFUL FOR

Students studying biochemistry, molecular biology, and chemistry, particularly those interested in nucleic acid structure and function.

staralfur
Messages
11
Reaction score
2

Homework Statement


The problem was to tell how many hydrogen bonds there are between cytosine and guanine. and I know there are three. http://study.com/cimages/multimages/16/Cytosine_Guanine_base_pair.png
But I think I might be misunderstanding the hydrogen bond concept.
I thought that hydrogen bonds only formed between O, F and N when they are also bond to H atom. And therefor CO2 fx does not form hydrogen bond with water as the oxygen atoms in the CO2 are not bonded to H atom.
In the cytosine-Guanine there is a hydrogen bond between Oxygen atom and NH2 but the Oxygen atom is only bond to Carbon, so why is there a hydrogen bond?
And N makes hydrogen bond with NH but the N is only bond to two C atoms
please explain.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Oxygen, fluorine or nitrogen atoms with available lone pairs can usually serve a hydrogen bond acceptor, and any hydrogen bonded to an F, O, or N can serve as a hydrogen bond donor. CO2 lack hydrogens, so it cannot serve as a hydrogen bond donor. Although it has free lone pairs on its oxygens, CO2 does not serve as a hydrogen bond acceptor because the molecule is not polar. The molecule is linear, so the dipoles from the two C=O bonds cancel each other out, and the molecule carries no net dipole (although, I'm not sure this explanation is entirely correct, because some sources I've found do suggest that carbon dioxide is capable of forming hydrogen bonds). Nevertheless, in guanine and cytosine, the oxygen atoms do carry a net dipole moment and can act as hydrogen bond acceptors.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
3
Views
2K
Replies
4
Views
4K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
7K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
22K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K