Himansu S. Biswal

Sulfur, Not Too Far Behind O, N, and C: SH···π Hydrogen Bond

We report hydrogen-bonded complexes of H(2)S with indole and 3-methyl indole stabilized by the S-H...pi interaction. It is interesting to discover that although sulfur and its hydrides are known as poor hydrogen-bond donor/acceptors, sulfur is not too far behind oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon in regard to forming the pi-type hydrogen bonds. This report also extends the scope of our earlier studies from sigma-type hydrogen-bonded complexes of sulfur (O-H...S and N-H...S sigma-type hydrogen-bonded complexes) to pi-type hydrogen-bonded complexes of sulfur (S-H...pi pi-type hydrogen-bonded complexes). The experiments were carried out using the supersonic jet expansion technique, and the complexes were probed using laser-induced spectroscopy such as laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), resonant two-photon inonization (R2PI), and fluorescence dip infrared spectroscopy (FDIRS). The FDIR spectroscopy revealed that while there was no shift in the N-H stretch, the S-H stretch was red shifted by about 21 cm(-1). For the H(2)O complexes of indole and 3-methylindole, however, there was a significant red shift in the N-H stretch. These observations suggest that H(2)O forms a NH...O type complex, whereas H(2)S prefers to form a SH...pi type complex. The experimental results were complemented by ab initio calculations and energy decomposition analysis. The binding energies for both the sigma-type and pi-type hydrogen-bonded M.L complexes (M = indole and 3-methylindole; L = H(2)O and H(2)S) were calculated by extrapolating MP2 interaction energies to the complete basis set limit. The calculated M.H(2)S (sigma-type) interaction energy (2.74 kcal/mol) was considerably smaller than that of the M.H(2)S pi-type hydrogen-bonded complex (4.89 kcal/mol), which is exactly opposite of the trend found for the M.H(2)O complexes. This is consistent with the experimental observations. Comparison of the S-H...pi interaction with the other type of X-H...pi (X = C, N, and O) shows that the S-H...pi interaction is the strongest among them. In all of the pi-type HB complexes, the dispersion energy component has significant contribution to the total binding energy.

Gas-Phase Folding of a Two-Residue Model Peptide Chain: On the Importance of an Interplay between Experiment and Theory

In order to assess the ability of theory to describe properly the dispersive interactions that are ubiquitous in peptide and protein systems, an isolated short peptide chain has been studied using both gas-phase laser spectroscopy and quantum chemistry. The experimentally observed coexistence of an extended form and a folded form in the supersonic expansion was found to result from comparable Gibbs free energies for the two species under the high-temperature conditions (< or = 320 K) resulting from the laser desorption technique used to vaporize the molecules. These data have been compared to results obtained using a series of quantum chemistry methods, including DFT, DFT-D, and post-Hartree-Fock methods, which give rise to a wide range of relative stabilities predicted for these two forms. The experimental observation was best reproduced by an empirically dispersion-corrected functional (B97-D) and a hybrid functional with a significant Hartree-Fock exchange term (M06-2X). In contrast, the popular post-Hartree-Fock method MP2, which is often used for benchmarking these systems, had to be discarded because of a very large basis-set superposition error. The applicability of the atomic counterpoise correction (ACP) is also discussed. This work also introduces the mandatory theoretical examination of experimental abundances. DeltaH(0 K) predictions are clearly not sufficient for discussion of folding, as the conformation inversion temperature is crucial to the conformation determination and requires taking into account thermodynamical corrections (DeltaG) in order to computationally isolate the most stable conformation.

O−H···O versus O−H···S Hydrogen Bonding I: Experimental and Computational Studies on the p-Cresol·H2O and p-Cresol·H2S Complexes

The weak hydrogen bonding ability of sulfur-containing hydrides makes it difficult to study their complexes and has not been characterized experimentally so far. In this work, the hydrogen-bonded complexes of H(2)S and H(2)O with p-cresol (p-CR) were studied using a variety of techniques such as two-color resonant two-photon ionization (2c-R2PI) spectroscopy, single vibronic level fluorescence (SVLF) spectroscopy, resonance ion dip infrared spectroscopy (RIDIRS), and fluorescence dip infrared spectroscopy (FDIRS), with an aim of comparing the nature and strength of their respective hydrogen bonding abilities. The intermolecular stretch (sigma) and the shift in the O-H stretching frequency of p-CR in the complex were taken as the measures of the O-H...O and O-H...S hydrogen bonding strength. The experiments were complemented by the ab initio calculations, atoms in molecules (AIM), natural bond orbital (NBO), and energy decomposition analyses carried out at different levels of theory. The experimental data indicates that in the p-CR x H(2)S complex, the phenolic OH group acts as a hydrogen bond donor, and sulfur as the acceptor. Further, it indicates that the p-CR x H(2)S complex was about half as strong as the p-CR x H(2)O complex. The AIM and NBO analyses corroborate the experimental findings. The energy decomposition analyses for the O-H...S hydrogen bond in the p-CR x H(2)S complex reveal that the dispersion interaction energy has the largest contribution to the total interaction energy, which is significantly higher than that in the case of the p-CR x H(2)O complex.

Unraveling the Mechanisms of Nonradiative Deactivation in Model Peptides Following Photoexcitation of a Phenylalanine Residue

The mechanisms of nonradiative deactivation of a phenylalanine residue after near-UV photoexcitation have been investigated in an isolated peptide chain model (N-acetylphenylalaninylamide, NAPA) both experimentally and theoretically. Lifetime measurements at the origin of the first ππ* state of jet-cooled NAPA molecules have shown that (i) among the three most stable conformers of the molecule, the folded conformer NAPA B is ∼50-times shorter lived than the extended major conformer NAPA A and (ii) this lifetime is virtually insensitive to deuteration at the NH(2) and NH sites. Concurrent time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) based nonadiabatic dynamics simulations in the full dimensionality, carried out for the NAPA B conformer, provided direct insights on novel classes of ultrafast deactivation mechanisms, proceeding through several conical intersections and leading in fine to the ground state. These mechanisms are found to be triggered either (i) by a stretch of the N(Phe)H bond, which leads to an H-transfer to the ring, or (ii) by specific backbone amide distortions. The potential energy surfaces of the NAPA conformers along these critical pathways have been characterized more accurately using the coupled cluster doubles (CC2) method and shown to exhibit barriers that can be overcome with moderate excess energies. These results analyzed in the light of the experimental findings enabled us to assign the short lifetime of NAPA B conformer to a number of easily accessible exit channels from the initial ππ* surface, most importantly the one involving a transfer of electronic excitation to an nπ* surface, induced by distortions of the backbone peptide bond.

O−H···O versus O−H···S Hydrogen Bonding. 2. Alcohols and Thiols as Hydrogen Bond Acceptors

In this paper, the effect of alkyl substitution at the hydrogen bond acceptor and its chain length on the strength and nature of hydrogen bonding is presented. In the present study we combine both experimental and computational methods to investigate the characteristics of O-H...O and O-H...S hydrogen bonding in the complexes of p-cresol (p-CR) with methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH), methanethiol (MeSH), and ethanethiol (EtSH). The results indicate that, with an increase in the alkyl chain length, both O-H...O hydrogen bonding and O-H...S hydrogen bonding become stronger. Energy decomposition analysis emphasizes the dispersive nature of O-H...S hydrogen bonding. In addition, it revealed that the dispersion energy contribution in O-H...O hydrogen bonding increases with an increase in the alkyl chain length of the hydrogen bond acceptor. In the case of O-H...S hydrogen bonding, however, the dispersion energy contribution decreased from 68% for the H(2)S complex to 53% in the case of the MeSH complex; it remained unchanged with a further increase of the alkyl chain length. It was also observed that the red shifts in the OH stretching frequency did not correlate with the proton affinities of the O-centered acceptor vs the S-centered H-bond acceptor, in contrast with the known trend for the conventional H-bonded complexes. The IR/UV double resonance study enabled the assignments of the anti and gauche conformers of p-CR-EtOH and p-CR-EtSH.

Strength of NH···S Hydrogen Bonds in Methionine Residues Revealed by Gas-Phase IR/UV Spectroscopy

Despite of being ubiquitous in proteins, NHbackbone···S hydrogen bonds linking the sulfur atom of methionine or cysteine to backbone NH groups remain poorly documented. Here, we report vibrationally resolved IR NH stretch spectra of two methionine-containing dipeptides (Ac-Phe-Met-NH2 and Ac-Met-Phe-NH2). The conformations observed for both molecules, assigned with the help of DFT-D quantum chemistry, provide spectroscopic evidence for the formation of NHbackbone···S H-bonds, surprisingly strong enough to challenge the classical intrabackbone NH···O═C H-bonds. The methionine side chain is found to fold locally, forming a H-bond with the neighboring amide groups (NH(i) or NH(i+1)). Comparison with protein data bank structural information shows that such a local folding is also common in proteins where it concerns 24% of the methionine residues that have a sulfur atom linked to a backbone NH group. This convergence between the strength of these NH···S H-bonds and protein structural data illustrates their contribution to the stability of protein chains.

Isolated Monohydrates of a Model Peptide Chain: Effect of a First Water Molecule on the Secondary Structure of a Capped Phenylalanine

The formation of monohydrates of capped phenylalanine model peptides, CH(3)-CO-Phe-NH(2) and CH(3)-CO-Phe-NH-CH(3), in a supersonic expansion has been investigated using laser spectroscopy and quantum chemistry methods. Conformational distributions of the monohydrates have been revealed by IR/UV double-resonance spectroscopy and their structures assigned by comparison with DFT-D calculations. A careful analysis of the final hydrate distribution together with a detailed theoretical investigation of the potential energy surface of the monohydrates demonstrates that solvation occurs from the conformational distribution of the isolated peptide monomers. The distribution of the monohydrates appears to be strongly dependent on both the initial monomer conformation (extended or folded backbone) and the solvation site initially occupied by the water molecule. The solvation processes taking place during the cooling can be categorized as follows: (a) solvation without significant structural changes of the peptide, (b) solvation inducing significant distortions of the backbone but retaining the secondary structure, and (c) solvation triggering backbone isomerizations, leading to a modification of the peptide secondary structure. It is observed that solvation by a single water molecule can fold a β-strand into a γ-turn structure (type c) or induce a significant opening of a γ-turn characterized by an elongated C(7) hydrogen bond (type b). These structural changes can be considered as a first step toward the polyproline II condensed-phase structure, illustrating the role played by the very first water molecule in the solvation process.

Experimental evidence of O–H—S hydrogen bonding in supersonic jet

Experimental evidence is presented for the O-H-S hydrogen bonding in the complexes of simple model compounds of methionine (dimethyl sulphide) and tyrosine (phenol, p-cresol, and 2-naphthol). The complexes were formed in the supersonic jet and were detected using resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy. In all the complexes, the band origins for the S(1)-S(0) electronic transition were redshifted relative to that of their respective monomers. The resonant ion depletion IR spectra of all the complexes show redshifts of 123-140 cm(-1) in the O-H stretching frequency, indicating that the OH group acts as the hydrogen bond donor and sulfur as an acceptor. The density functional theory calculations also predict the stable structures in support of this and predict the redshifted O-H stretching frequency in the complex. The atoms-in-molecules and natural bond orbital calculations confirm the O-H-S hydrogen bonding interaction. The significant finding of this study is that the magnitudes of redshifts in the O-H stretch in the O-H-S hydrogen bonded complexes reported here are comparable to those reported for the O-H-O hydrogen bonded complexes where H(2)O acts as the H-bond acceptor, which suggests that the OH-S interaction is perhaps as strong as the OH-O interaction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such report on the O-H-S hydrogen bonded complexes.

Critical Assessment of the Strength of Hydrogen Bonds between the Sulfur Atom of Methionine/Cysteine and Backbone Amides in Proteins

Gas-phase vibrational spectroscopy, coupled cluster (CCSD(T)), and dispersion corrected density functional (B97-D3) methods are employed to characterize surprisingly strong sulfur center H-bonded (SCHB) complexes between cis and trans amide NH and S atom of methionine and cysteine side chain. The amide N-H···S H-bonds are compared with the representative classical σ- and π-type H-bonded complexes such as N-H···O, N-H···O═C and N-H···π H-bonds. With the spectroscopic, theoretical, and structural evidence, amide N-H···S H-bonds are found to be as strong as the classical σ-type H-bonds, despite the smaller electronegativity of sulfur in comparison to oxygen. The strength of backbone-amide N-H···S H-bonds in cysteine and methionine containing peptides and proteins are also investigated and found to be of similar magnitudes as those observed in the intermolecular model complexes studied in this work. All such SCHBs also confirm that the electronegativities of the acceptors are not the sole criteria to predict the H-bond strength.

OH···X (X = O, S) hydrogen bonding in thetrahydrofuran and tetrahydrothiophene

In this article, hydrogen bonding interaction between p-cresol (p-CR) and cyclic ether, tetrahydrofuran (THF) and thioether, tetrahydrothiophene (THT) has been investigated. Two-color resonantly enhanced two-photon ionization in conjunction with the fluorescence detected IR (FDIR) spectroscopy was used to record the changes in the OH stretching frequency in these complexes. The FDIR spectra showed existence of a single conformer of the p-CR·THF and two conformers of the p-CR·THT complex. With the help of computed IR spectra and atoms-in-molecules analysis, the two conformers of p-CR·THT were assigned as the complex of p-CR with THT (C(2))/THT (C(S)). The redshift of OH stretching frequency for the p-CR·THF complex was greater compared to those for the conformers of the p-CR·THT complex. The binding energies of the p-CR·THF and p-CR·THT complexes were computed to be 7.42 and 6.15 kcal/mole. These were of the same order as those for the acyclic analogs, diethylether (DEE), and diethylsulfide (DES), of the solvent molecules under investigation. Although the DEE and THF consist of same number of carbon atoms, the dispersion energy contribution was much higher (43%) for DEE than that for THF (30%). In the case of sulfur analogs, however, it was similar (~50%) in the case of both DES well as THT complexes. All the computed H-bond indicators for these two complexes nicely correlate with the observed redshift of the O-H stretch.