Effects of charge location on the absorptions and lifetimes of protonated tyrosine peptides in vacuo

Combining Near-UV Photodissociation with Electron Transfer. Reduction of the Diazirine Ring in a Photomethionine-Labeled Peptide Ion

Electron transfer dissociation of peptide ions with the diazirine-containing residue photomethionine (M*) results in side-chain dissociations by loss of C3H7N2 radicals in addition to standard backbone cleavages. The side-chain dissociations are particularly prominent upon activation of long-lived, charge-reduced, cation radicals (GM*GGR + 2H)(+•). Investigation of these cation radicals by near-UV photodissociation and collisional activation revealed different fragmentation products and mechanisms resulting from these ion activation modes. The dissociations observed for photomethionine were dramatically different from those previously reported for the lower homologue photoleucine; here, a difference by a single methylene group in the side chain had a large effect on the chemistries of the cation radicals upon ETD and further activation. ETD intermediates and products were probed by tandem 355-nm UV photodissociation-collision induced dissociation and found to contain chromophores that resulted from electron attachment to the diazirine ring. The nature of the newly formed chromophores and ion energetics and kinetics were investigated by electron structure calculations combining ab initio and density functional theory methods and Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) theory. The dramatic difference between the dissociations of L* and M* containing peptide cation radicals is explained by electronic effects that play a role in stabilizing critical reaction intermediates and steer the dissociations into kinetically favored reaction channels. In addition, a new alternating UVPD-ETD-UVPD MS(4) experiment is introduced and utilized for ion structure elucidation.

Probing peptide cation-radicals by near-UV photodissociation in the gas phase. Structure elucidation of histidine radical chromophores formed by electron transfer reduction

Electron transfer reduction of gas-phase ions generated from histidine-containing peptides forms stable cation-radicals that absorb light at 355 nm, as studied for AAHAR, AAHAK, DSHAK, FHEK, HHGYK, and HHSHR. Laser photodissociation of mass-selected cation-radicals chiefly resulted in loss of H atoms, contrasting dissociations induced by slow collisional heating. The 355 nm absorption was due to new chromophores created by electron transfer and radical rearrangements in the cation-radicals. The chromophores were identified by time-dependent density functional theory calculations as 2H,3H-imidazoline and 2H-dihydrophenol radicals, formed by hydrogen atom transfer to the histidine and tyrosine side chain groups, respectively. These radicals undergo facile C-H bond dissociations upon photon absorption. In contrast, dissociations of histidine peptide cation-radicals containing the 1H,3H-imidazoline ring prefer loss of 4-methylimidazole via a multistep reaction pathway. The isomeric cation-radicals can be distinguished by a combination of collision-induced dissociation and near-UV photodissociation. The TD-DFT excitation energies in model imidazoline radicals were benchmarked on EOM-CCSD energies, and a satisfactory agreement was found for the M06-2X and ωB97XD functionals. The combination of electron transfer, photodissociation, collisional activation, and theory is presented as a powerful tool for studying structures and electronic properties of peptide cation-radicals in the gas phase.

Fragmentation of neutral amino acids and small peptides by intense, femtosecond laser pulses

High power femtosecond laser pulses have unique properties that could lead to their application as ionization or activation sources in mass spectrometry. By concentrating many photons into pulse lengths approaching the timescales associated with atomic motion, very strong electric field strengths are generated, which can efficiently ionize and fragment molecules without the need for resonant absorption. However, the complex interaction between these pulses and biomolecular species is not well understood. To address this issue, we have studied the interaction of intense, femtosecond pulses with a number of amino acids and small peptides. Unlike previous studies, we have used neutral forms of these molecular targets, which allowed us to investigate dissociation of radical cations without the spectra being complicated by the action of mobile protons. We found fragmentation was dominated by fast, radical-initiated dissociation close to the charge site generated by the initial ionization or from subsequent ultrafast migration of this charge. Fragments with lower yields, which are useful for structural determinations, were also observed and attributed to radical migration caused by hydrogen atom transfer within the molecule.