Dimitra Markovitsi
Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut de Chimie Physique, UMR8000, 91405 Orsay, France
This seminar will provide an overview of the processes that occur upon absorption of UV radiation by DNA multimers (single and double strands, guanine quadruplexes). It will summarize key findings, primarily derived from time-resolved spectroscopy (femtoseconds to milliseconds), complemented by theoretical calculations. The discussion will cover photon absorption, electronic relaxation, fluorescence and low-energy photoionization. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of the electronic coupling between nucleobases and its dependence on factors such as secondary structure, conformational disorder, metal cations and strand polarity. Finally, some outcomes of these fundamental studies, potentially useful for the development of future optoelectronic devices exploiting intrinsic DNA properties (fluorescence, charge carrier generation), will be highlighted.
Invited by Yves Mély
