The dynamics of one-electron oxidation of guanine (G) base mononucleotide and that in DNA have been investigated by pulse radiolysis. The radical cation (G(+.)) of deoxyguanosine (dG), produced by oxidation with SO4-., rapidly deprotonates to form the neutral G radical (G(-H)(.)) with a rate constant of 1.8 x 10(7) s(-1) at pH 7.0, as judged from transient spectroscopy. With experiments using different double-stranded oligonucleotides containing G, GG, and GGG sequences, the absorbance increases at 625 nm, characteristic of formation of the G(-H)(.), were found to consist of two phases. The rate constants of the faster (similar to1.3 x 10(7) s(-1)) and slower phases (similar to3.0 x 10(6) s(-1)) were similar for the different oligonucleotides. On the other hand, in the oligonucleotide containing G located at the 5'- and 3'-terminal positions, only the faster phase was seen. These results suggest that the lifetime of the radical cation of the G:C base pair (GC(+.)), depending on its location in the DNA chain, is longer than that of free dG. In addition, the absorption spectral intermediates showed that hole transport to a specific G site within a 12-13mer double-stranded oligonucleotide is complete within 50 ns; that is, the rate of hole transport over 20 Angstrom is > 10(7) s(-1).