Daniël J. Bakker

Far-Infrared Signatures of Hydrogen Bonding in Phenol Derivatives

One of the most direct ways to study the intrinsic properties of the hydrogen-bond interaction is by gas-phase far-infrared (far-IR) spectroscopy because the modes involving hydrogen-bond deformation are excited in this spectral region; however, the far-IR regime is often ignored in molecular structure identification due to the absence of strong far-IR light sources and difficulty in assigning the observed modes by quantum chemical calculations. Far-IR/UV ion-dip spectroscopy using the free electron laser FELIX was applied to directly probe the intramolecular hydrogen-bond interaction in a family of phenol derivatives. Three vibrational modes have been identified, which are expected to be diagnostic for the hydrogen-bond strength: hydrogen-bond stretching and hydrogen-bond-donating and -accepting OH torsion vibrations. Their position is evaluated with respect to the hydrogen bond strength, that is, the length of the hydrogen-bonded OH length. This shows that the hydrogen bond stretching frequency is diagnostic for the size of the ring that is closed by the hydrogen bond, while the strength of the hydrogen bond can be determined from the hydrogen-bond-donating OH torsion frequency. The combination of these two normal modes allows the direct probing of intramolecular hydrogen-bond characteristics using conformation-selective far-IR vibrational spectroscopy.

Far-infrared amide IV-VI spectroscopy of isolated 2-and 4-Methylacetanilide

Delocalized molecular vibrations in the far-infrared and THz ranges are highly sensitive to the molecular structure, as well as to intra- and inter-molecular interactions. Thus, spectroscopic studies of biomolecular structures can greatly benefit from an extension of the conventional mid-infrared to the far-infrared wavelength range. In this work, the conformer-specific gas-phase far-infrared spectra of two aromatic molecules containing the peptide -CO-NH- link, namely, 2- and 4-Methylacetanilide, are investigated. The planar conformations with trans configuration of the peptide link have only been observed in the supersonic-jet expansion. The corresponding far-infrared signatures associated with the vibrations of the peptide -CO-NH- moiety, the so-called amide IV-VI bands, have been assigned and compared with the results of density functional theory frequency calculations based on the anharmonic vibrational second-order perturbation theory approach. The analysis of the experimental and theoretical data shows that the amide IV-VI bands are highly diagnostic for the geometry of the peptide moiety and the molecular backbone. They are also strongly blue-shifted upon formation of the NH⋯O-C hydrogen bonding, which is, for example, responsible for the formation of secondary protein structures. Furthermore, the amide IV-VI bands are also diagnostic for the cis configuration of the peptide link, which can be present in cyclic peptides. The experimental gas-phase data presented in this work can assist the vibrational assignment of similar biologically important systems, either isolated or in natural environments.

FAR-IR ACTION SPECTROSCOPY OF AMINOPHENOL AND ETHYLVANILLIN: EXPERIMENT AND THEORY

Investigations of molecular structure and conformational isomerism are at the forefront of today’s biophysics and biochemistry. In particular, vibrations excited by far-IR radiation can be highly sensitive to the molecular 3D structure as they are delocalized over large parts of the molecule. Current theoretical predictions of vibrational frequencies in the far-IR range are not accurate enough because of the non-local character and anharmonicity of these vibrations. Therefore experimental studies in the far-IR are vital to guide theory towards improved methodology. In this work we present the conformer-specific far-IR spectra of aminophenol and ethylvanillin molecules in the range of 220-800 cm−1utilizing ion-dip action spectroscopy carried out at the free electron laser FELIX in Nijmegen, Netherlands. The systems studied are aromatic molecules with important functional groups such as the hydroxyl (OH) and amino (NH2) groups in aminophenol, and the hydroxyl, ethoxy (OCH2CH3) and formyl (CHO) groups in ethylvanillin. The experimental spectra show well resolved conformer-specific vibrational bands. In the case of ethylvanillin only two planar conformers have been observed under supersonic jet expansion conditions. Despite the fact that these conformers differ only in the position of oxygen of the formyl group with respect to ethoxy group, they are well distinguishable in far-IR spectra. The capability of numerical methods based on density functional theory (DFT) for predicting vibrational frequencies in this spectral region within the harmonic approximation has been investigated by using several hybrid-functionals such as B3LYP, PBE0, B2PLYP and CAM-B3LYP. An anharmonic correction based on vibrational second order perturbation theory approacha was also applied. We have found that the methods we considered are well suited for the assignment of far-IR vibrational features except the modes which are strongly anharmonic, like the NH2 wagging mode in aminophenol which is likely to be due to double well potential governing this motion.