Submicrosecond pulse radiolysis conductivity measurements in aqueous solutions—II

Franck-Condon Dominated Chemistry. Formation and Dissociations of the Dimethylhydroxysulfuranyl Radical

The structure and energetics of the hydroxyl radical adduct to dimethyl sulfide (DMS) was revisited using high level ab initio calculations. Density functional theory B3LYP/6-31++G(2d,p) and perturbational MP2(FULL)/6-31++G(2d,p) calculations found a weakly bound structure, (CH3)2SOH•, with a long S-O bond that was a local energy minimum. Single point calculations at the effective QCISD(T)/6-311++G(3df,2p) level of theory, denoted as G2++(MP2), found the (CH3)2S-OH• bonding energy to be 40 kJ mol-1 at 298 K. The standard heat of formation of (CH3)2SOH• was assessed from dissociation and isodesmic reactions as -45 ± 4 kJ mol-1. No other local minima corresponding to C2H7OS radicals were found at the present level of theory that could be derived from DMS or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). A very weak complex, CH3S(H)-•OCH3, was found that was bound by mere 4 kJ mol-1 against dissociation to CH3SH and •OCH3. Vertical electron capture by (CH3)2SOH+ is predicted to form (CH3)2SOH• with a highly non-relaxed geometry corresponding to a vibrational excitation of 138 kJ mol-1 above the local minimum and 88 kJ mol-1 above the dissociation threshold to DMS and OH•. Unimolecular dissociation of (CH3)2SOH• to methanesulfenic acid (CH3SOH) and •OCH3 faces an energy barrier that diminishes at shorter S-O distances. The dipole-allowed electronic excitation in (CH3)2SOH• was calculated with CIS/6-311++G(2df,p) to have λmax = 248 nm in the gas phase. The resulting B state represents a charge-transfer complex of (CH3)2S+• and OH-. The present computational results allowed us to explain the existing controversy between the experimental results obtained by gas-phase flow kinetics, radiolysis in aqueous solution, and neutralization-reionization mass spectrometry.

Iron-thiolate induced oxidation of methionine to methionine sulfoxide in small model peptides. Intramolecular catalysis by histidine

Peptides containing either glycine and methionine, or glycine, methionine and histidine at various locations were oxidized by the dithiothreitol/ferric chloride system in phosphate buffer. The yields of peptide degradation and sulfoxide formation were measured as a function of peptide sequence and pH. In general little change of the final yields of peptide degradation is observed whereas the final yields of sulfoxide formation progressively decrease on going from pH 6.0 to 8.0. The pH profiles vary with the structure of the respective peptide. Efficient sulfoxide formation occurred when histidine and methionine were present within the same peptides sequence, and particularly when methionine was located at the C-terminus of the peptide. Added superoxide dismutase, catalase, and methanol did neither promote nor inhibit both the degradation of peptide and the formation of sulfoxide excluding free superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radicals as responsible reactive oxygen species. The observations are rationalized by invoking a pH-dependent conversion of an efficiently sulfoxide yielding oxidant into another oxidant which still degrades peptides but does not form methionine sulfoxide. The first might be a metal-bound peroxide or peroxyl species which converts into a metal-bound or 'complexed' hydroxyl radical.