The Strength with Which a Peptide Group Can Form a Hydrogen Bond Varies with the Internal Conformation of the Polypeptide Chain

The influence of solvent on conformational properties of peptides with Aib residue-a DFT study

The conformational propensities of the Aib residue on the example of two model peptides Ac-Aib-NHMe (1) and Ac-Aib-NMe2 (2), were studied by B3LYP and M06-2X functionals, in the gas phase and in the polar solvents. To verify the reliability of selected functionals, we also performed MP2 calculations for the tested molecules in vacuum. Polarizable continuum models (PCM and SMD) were used to estimate the solvent effect. Ramachandran maps were calculated to find all energy minima. Noncovalent intramolecular interactions due to hydrogen-bonds and dipole attractions between carbonyl groups are responsible for the relative stabilities of the conformers. In order to verify the theoretical results, the available conformations of similar X-ray structures from the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center (CCDC) were analyzed. The results of the calculations show that both derivatives with the Aib residue in the gas phase prefer structures stabilized by intramolecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, i.e., C5 and C7 conformations, while polar solvent promotes helical conformation with φ, ψ values equal to +/-60°, +/-40°. In addition, in the case of molecule 2, the helical conformation is the only one available in the polar environment. This result is fully consistent with the X-ray data. Graphical abstract Effect of solvent on the Ramachandran maps of the model peptides with Aib residue.

NXO beta structure mimicry: an ultrashort turn/hairpin mimic that folds in water

An NXO building block derived tetrapeptide mimic emulates a natural proline-glycine β-turn/hairpin in polar media, including water at room temperature.

Weak H-bonds. Comparisons of CH···O to NH···O in proteins and PH···N to direct P···N interactions

Whereas CH···O H-bonds are usually weaker than interpeptide NH···O H-bonds, this is not necessarily the case within proteins. The nominally weaker CH···O are surprisingly strong, comparable to, and in some cases stronger than, the NH···O H-bonds in the context of the forces that hold together the adjacent strands in protein β-sheets. The peptide NH is greatly weakened as proton donor in certain conformations of the protein backbone, particularly extended structures, and forms correspondingly weaker H-bonds. The PH group is a weak proton donor, but will form PH···N H-bonds. However, there is a stronger interaction in which P can engage, in which the P atom, not the H, directly approaches the N electron donor to establish a direct P···N interaction. This approach is stabilized by the same sort of electron transfer from the N lone pair to the P-H σ* antibond that characterizes the PH···N H-bond.

Quantum mechanical studies on model alpha-pleated sheets

Pauling and Corey proposed a pleated-sheet configuration, now called alpha-sheet, as one of the protein secondary structures in addition to alpha-helix and beta-sheet. Recently, it has been suggested that alpha-sheet is a common feature of amyloidogenic intermediates. We have investigated the stability of antiparallel beta-sheet and two conformations of alpha-sheet in solution phase using the density functional theoretical method. The peptides are modeled as two-strand acetyl-(Ala)(2)-N-methylamine. Using stages of geometry optimization and single point energy calculation at B3LYP/cc-pVTZ//B3LYP/6-31G* level and including zero-point energies, thermal, and entropic contribution, we have found that beta-sheet is the most stable conformation, while the alpha-sheet proposed by Pauling and Corey has 13.6 kcal/mol higher free energy than the beta-sheet. The alpha-sheet that resembles the structure observed in molecular dynamics simulations of amyloidogenic proteins at low pH becomes distorted after stages of geometry optimization in solution. Whether the alpha-sheets with longer chains would be increasingly favorable in water relative to the increase in internal energy of the chain needs further investigation. Different from the quantum mechanics results, AMBER parm94 force field gives small difference in solution phase energy between alpha-sheet and beta-sheet. The predicted amide I IR spectra of alpha-sheet shows the main band at higher frequency than beta-sheet.

Identification of spectroscopic patterns of CH...O H-bonds in proteins

Ab initio calculations are used to identify characteristics of vibrational and NMR spectra that signal the involvement of a protein backbone in a CH...O H-bond and that distinguish this sort of interaction from other H-bonds in which a protein might participate. Glycine and alanine dipeptides, in both their C7 and C5 minimum-energy structures, are paired with formamide in a number of different H-bonding arrangements. The CH...O H-bond is characterized by a small contraction of the C-H bond length, along with a blue shift in its stretching frequency, accompanied by an intensification of this vibrational band. In the context of NMR spectra, the bridging CH proton's chemical shift is moved downfield by 1-2 ppm. The aforementioned features are not produced by other H-bonds in which the protein backbone might participate, such as NH proton donation or accepting a proton via the peptide C=O.