An exploratory set of ab initio molecular orbital computations were carried
out on various conformations of ribose and deoxy-ribose model compounds to
establish the nature of possible interactions between the 5'-hydroxyl and
the oxygen of the ribose ring. Moreover, the investigation was extended to
the hydrogen bonding between the two adjacent hydroxyls 2'- and 3'- to expl
ore their effect on the stabilization of the whole system. The consistent p
resence of a rather unusual weak hydrogen bond between the proton of C-2'-H
and the O-5' Of the hydroxy methyl group for the g(-)g(-) conformation of
the-CH2-OH functional group has been studied by using Bader's atoms in mole
cules (AIM) method. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.