Long distance charge transport in DNA: The hopping mechanism

Long-distance charge transport from a guanine radical cation (G(+.)) to a G -rich sequence is of biological importance. This reaction was studied by se lective charge injection into a G, monitoring the charge transport to a GGG sequence by competing H2O-trapping. The efficiency of the charge transport diminished dramatically with increasing number of A:T base pairs between G (+.) and GGG. But in DNA strands where G's are located between the G(+.) an d GGG sequence, long-distance charge transport occurred by a multistep hopp ing mechanism.