Tautomerism of Cytosine on Silver, Gold, and Copper: Raman Spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory Calculation Study

Tautomerism of pyrimidine base cytosine has been comparatively examined on nanoparticle and roughened plate surfaces of silver, gold, and copper by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The SERS spectrum was found to be different depending on the metals and their substrate conditions suggesting the dissimilar population of various tautomers of cytosine on the surfaces. The ab initio calculations were performed at the levels of B3LYP, HF, and MP2 levels of theory with the LanL2DZ basis set to estimate the energetic stability of the tautomers with the metal complexes as well as the gas phase state. The amino group and N3-coordinated tautomer was predicted to be more favorable for bonding to Au, whereas the hydroxyl and N1-coordinated zwitter ionic form is most stable with Ag and Cu as a bidentate form from the DFT calculation. The binding energy with the Ag atom is calculated to be smaller than those with the Au and Cu atoms in line with the temperature-dependent SERS spectra of cytosine.