Absolute Affinities of α-Amino Acids for Cu+in the Gas Phase. A Theoretical Study

Cation-pi effects in the complexation of Na+ and K+ with Phe, Tyr, and Trp in the gas phase

Na+ and K+ gas-phase affinities of the three aromatic amino acids Phe, Tyr, and Trp were measured by the kinetic method. Na+ binds these amino acids much more strongly than K+, and for both metal ions the binding strength was found to follow the order Phe < or = Tyr < Trp. Quantum chemical calculations by density functional theory (DFT) gave the same qualitative ordering, but suggested a somewhat larger Phe/Trp increment. These results are in acceptable agreement with predictions based on the binding of Na+ and K+ to the side chain model molecules benzene, phenol, and indole, and are also in reasonable agreement with the predictions from purely electrostatic calculations of the side-chain binding effects. The binding energies were compared with those to the aliphatic amino acids glycine and alanine. Binding to the aromatic amino acids was found to be stronger both experimentally and computationally, but the DFT calculations indicate substantially larger increments relative to alanine than shown by the experiments. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed. The metal ion binding energies show the same trends as the proton affinities.

Fragmentation chemistry of [M + Cu]+ peptide ions containing an N-terminal arginine

[M + Cu]+ peptide ions formed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization from direct desorption off a copper sample stage have sufficient internal energy to undergo metastable ion dissociation in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. On the basis of fragmentation chemistry of peptides containing an N-terminal arginine, we propose the primary Cu+ ion binding site is the N-terminal arginine with Cu+ binding to the guanidine group of arginine and the N-terminal amine. The principal decay products of [M + Cu]+ peptide ions containing an N-terminal arginine are [a(n) + Cu - H]+ and [b(n) + Cu - H]+ fragments. We show evidence to suggest that [a(n) + Cu - H]+ fragment ions are formed by elimination of CO from [b(n) + Cu - H]+ ions and by direct backbone cleavage. We conclude that Cu+ ionizes the peptide by attaching to the N-terminal arginine residue; however, fragmentation occurs remote from the Cu+ ion attachment site involving metal ion promoted deprotonation to generate a new site of protonation. That is, the fragmentation reactions of [M + Cu]+ ions can be described in terms of a "mobile proton" model. Furthermore, proline residues that are adjacent to the N-terminal arginine do not inhibit formation of [b(n) + Cu - H]+ ion, whereas proline residues that are distant to the charge carrying arginine inhibit formation of [b(n) + Cu - H]+ ions. An unusual fragment ion, [c(n) + Cu + H]+, is also observed for peptides containing lysine, glutamine, or asparagine in close proximity to the Cu+ carrying N-terminal arginine. Mechanisms for formation of this fragment ion are also proposed.

Gas-phase metal ion (Li+, Na+, Cu+) affinities of glycine and alanine

The gas-phase metal affinities of glycine and alanine for Li+, Na+ and Cu+ ions have been determined theoretically employing the hybrid B3LYP exchange-correlation functional and using extended basis sets. All computations indicate that the metal ion affinity (MIA) decreases on going from Cu+ to Li+ and Na+ for both the considered amino acids. The absolute MIA values are close to the experimental counterparts with the exception of lithium for which a deviation of about 7 kcal/mol at the B3LYP level is obtained. The optimized structures indicate that Li+, Na+ and Cu+ prefer a bidentate coordination, bonding with both nitrogen and oxygen atoms of amino acids.

Why Are Copper(II) Amino Acid Complexes Not Planar in Their Crystal Structures? An ab Initio and Molecular Mechanics Study

This paper presents geometries of copper(II) chelates with L-alanine, L-leucine, and L-N,N-dimethylvaline optimized by the hybrid density functional method B3LYP. According to the molecular quantum mechanics results, a square-planar copper(II) coordination geometry is electronically favored in vacuo. Deviations from the planar configuration observed in the crystal state should be attributed to sterical intramolecular and/or intermolecular effects. This paper proposes a new molecular mechanics model for tetracoordinated copper(II) amino acidates to investigate these effects in detail. The empirical parameter set for the selected potential energy functions was optimized both with respect to the X-ray crystal structures (internal coordinates and unit cell constants) and with respect to the quantum mechanically derived valence angles around copper. To test this newly developed force field (FF), the equilibrium geometries of 10 molecules are predicted in vacuo and in approximate crystalline surrounding. The results were compared with their ab initio and experimental crystal structures, respectively. The unit cell volumes were reproduced in a range from -7.0% to 2.1%. The total root-mean-square deviations between the experimental and FF in crystal internal coordinates were 0.017 Å in the bond lengths, 2.2 degrees in the valence angles, and 3.6 degrees in the torsion angles. The force field is capable of reproducing the changes in the chelate rings' torsion angles caused by the crystal packing forces and successfully explains the nonplanarity of Cu(II) amino acid complexes in their crystal structures.