Conspectus The intrinsic fluorescence of nucleic acids is extremely weak compared to that
of the fluorescent labels used to probe their structural and functional behavior. Thus, for …

The knowledge of the fundamental processes induced by the direct absorption of UV
radiation by DNA allows extrapolating conclusions drawn from in vitro studies to the in‐vivo …

Excited‐state dynamics are essential to understanding the formation of DNA lesions induced
by UV light. By using femtosecond IR spectroscopy, it was possible to determine the lifetimes …

Ultrafast laser experiments on carefully selected DNA model compounds probe the effects of
base stacking, base pairing, and structural disorder on excited electronic states formed by …

Studying the ultrafast dynamics of ionized aqueous biomolecules is important for gaining an
understanding of the interaction of ionizing radiation with biological matter. Guanine plays …

During the past few years, several studies reported that a significant part of the intrinsic
fluorescence of DNA duplexes decays with surprisingly long lifetimes (1–3 ns) at …

The photoreactive pathways that may lead to DNA damage depend crucially upon the
nature of the excited electronic states. The study of alternating guanine–cytosine duplexes …

The excited-state dynamics of two cyclic DNA miniduplexes, each containing just two base
pairs, are investigated using time-resolved infrared spectroscopy. As in longer DNA …

Recent studies have evidenced that oxidatively damaged DNA, which potentially leads to
carcinogenic mutations and aging, may result from the direct absorption of low-energy …

The electronic excited states populated upon absorption of UV photons by DNA are
extensively studied in relation to the UV‐induced damage to the genetic code. Here, we …