Determinants of the Unexpected Stability of RNA Fluorobenzene Self Pairs

Abstract

A congeneric series of self-paired fluorine-substituted benzene nucleobases in a designed RNA environment shows a steady increase in stability with respect to the degree of fluorination. Computational free energy component analyses reveal surprisingly different microscopic origins for the observed stability increments and demonstrate an intricate influence of the environment on the molecular-recognition properties of organic fluorine.