The UV absorption of nucleobases: semi-classical ab initio spectra simulations

Semi-classical simulations of the UV-photoabsorption cross sections of adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil in gas phase were performed at the resolution-of-identity coupled cluster to the second-order (RI-CC2) level. With the exception of cytosine, the spectra of the other four nucleobases show a two band pattern separated by a low intensity region. The spectrum of cytosine is shaped by a sequence of three bands of increasing intensity. The first band of guanine is composed by two pipi* transitions of similar intensities. The analysis of individual contributions to the spectra allows a detailed assignment of bands. It is shown that the semi-classical simulations are able to predict general features of the experimental spectra, including their absolute intensities.