Are adenine strands helical H-aggregates?

Abstract

On the basis of our quantum mechanical calculation, we propose that homogeneous single-stranded adenine bases (Ade-DNA) form helical H aggregates, and the photoexcited states can be described as Frenkel excitons. The calculated excitonic coupling between adjacent transition dipoles is in good agreement with the measured absorption spectrum of 20-base homogeneous adenine stacks that exhibits a blue shift of 2.6 nm relative to that of the monomeric species.