Anharmonic Vibrational Dynamics of DNA Oligomers

Combining two-color infared pump-probe spectroscopy and anharmonic force field calculations we characterize the anharmonic coupling patterns between fingerprint modes and the hydrogen-bonded symmetric vNH2 stretching vibration in adenine-thymine dA20-dT20 DNA oligomers. Specifically, it is shown that the anharmonic coupling between the δNH2 bending and the vC4=O4 stretching vibration, both absorbing around 1665 cm-1, can be used to assign the vNH2 fundamental transition at 3215 cm-1 despite the broad background absorption of water.