Robert C. Dunbar

IRMPD spectroscopy of metal-ion/tryptophan complexes

Infrared multiple-photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectroscopy is employed to obtain detailed binding information on singly charged silver and alkali metal-ion/tryptophan complexes in the gas phase. For these complexes the presence of the salt bridge (i.e. zwitterionic) tautomer can be virtually excluded, except for perhaps a few percent in the case of Li+. Two low-energy structures having the charge solvation form are shown to be likely, where the metal cation is either in a tridentate N/O/Ring conformation or in a bidentate O/Ring conformation. These two structures can be conveniently discriminated and their relative quantities can be approximated by IR spectroscopy, based principally on diagnostic modes near approximately 1150 (N/O/Ring) and 1400 (O/Ring) cm(-1). Interestingly, the smaller cation complexes (i.e. Ag+ and Li+) display exclusively the N/O/Ring conformation, whereas the O/Ring conformer becomes progressively more abundant with increasing alkali metal size, eventually representing the majority of the ion population for Rb+ and Cs+. These spectroscopic findings are in excellent agreement with thermochemical density functional theory (DFT) calculations, giving support to the utility of high-level quantum-chemical calculations for such systems. Moreover, in contrast to other mass spectrometry-based techniques, IRMPD spectroscopy allows clear differentiation and semi-quantitative approximation of these metal-ligand binding motifs, thereby underlining its importance in thermochemical model benchmarking.

Cation-π effects in the complexation of Na+ and K+ with Phe, Tyr, and Trp in the gas phase

Na+ and K+ gas-phase affinities of the three aromatic amino acids Phe, Tyr, and Trp were measured by the kinetic method. Na+ binds these amino acids much more strongly than K+, and for both metal ions the binding strength was found to follow the order Phe ≤ Tyr < Trp. Quantum chemical calculations by density functional theory (DFT) gave the same qualitative ordering, but suggested a somewhat larger Phe/Trp increment. These results are in acceptable agreement with predictions based on the binding of Na+ and K+ to the side chain model molecules benzene, phenol, and indole, and are also in reasonable agreement with the predictions from purely electrostatic calculations of the side-chain binding effects. The binding energies were compared with those to the aliphatic amino acids glycine and alanine. Binding to the aromatic amino acids was found to be stronger both experimentally and computationally, but the DFT calculations indicate substantially larger increments relative to alanine than shown by the experiments. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed. The metal ion binding energies show the same trends as the proton affinities.

Photodissociation of trapped ions

Abstract The ion-trapping ion cyclotron resonance spectrometer, or Fourier transform mass spectrometer, provides a powerful and convenient environment for the study of photodissociation of gas-phase ions. This capability has been explored for about 30 years in a number of laboratories including our own. A variety of developments and applications, historical and current, are organized here under five broad headings: (1) optical spectroscopy of ions; (2) kinetics of the dissociation process; (3) dynamics of the dissociation process; (4) thermochemistry of dissociation; and (5) probing the structure and energy of the ions.

Alkali Metal Complexes of the Dipeptides PheAla and AlaPhe: IRMPD Spectroscopy†

Complexes of PheAla and AlaPhe with alkali metal ions Na(+) and K(+) are generated by electrospray ionization, isolated in the Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) ion trapping mass spectrometer, and investigated by infrared multiple-photon dissociation (IRMPD) using light from the FELIX free electron laser over the mid-infrared range from 500 to 1900 cm(-1). Insight into structural features of the complexes is gained by comparing the obtained spectra with predicted spectra and relative free energies obtained from DFT calculations for candidate conformers. Combining spectroscopic and energetic results establishes that the metal ion is always chelated by the amide carbonyl oxygen, whilst the C-terminal hydroxyl does not complex the metal ion and is in the endo conformation. It is also likely that the aromatic ring of Phe always chelates the metal ion in a cation-pi binding configuration. Along with the amide CO and ring chelation sites, a third Lewis-basic group almost certainly chelates the metal ion, giving a threefold chelation geometry. This third site may be either the C-terminal carbonyl oxygen, or the N-terminal amino nitrogen. From the spectroscopic and computational evidence, a slight preference is given to the carbonyl group, in an RO(a)O(t) chelation pattern, but coordination by the amino group is almost equally likely (particularly for K(+)PheAla) in an RO(a)N(t) chelation pattern, and either of these conformations, or a mixture of them, would be consistent with the present evidence. (R represents the pi ring site, O(a) the amide oxygen, O(t) the terminal carbonyl oxygen, and N(t) the terminal nitrogen.) The spectroscopic findings are in better agreement with the MPW1PW91 DFT functional calculations of the thermochemistry compared with the B3LYP functional, which seems to underestimate the importance of the cation-pi interaction.

Magnetron motion of ions in the cubical ICR cell

Abstract The magnetron motion of ions in the cubical ICR cell is observed as a large-amplitude oscillating signal on the receiver plates. The frequency of this signal is compared with that calculated on the basis of the potentials and ion motions in the real cubical cell with excellent agreement. Observation of the magnetron frequency as a function of time following ion formation is used to investigate the effects of potential inhomogeneity and space charge; qualitative agreement is found with a simple model.

Ion spectroscopy: Where did it come from; where is it now; and where is it going?

The ASMS conference on ion spectroscopy brought together at Asilomar on October 16–20, 2009 a large group of mass spectrometrists working in the area of ion spectroscopy. In this introduction to the field, we provide a brief history, its current state, and where it is going. Ion spectroscopy of intermediate size molecules began with photoelectron spectroscopy in the 1960s, while electronic spectroscopy of ions using the photodissociation “action spectroscopic” mode became active in the next decade. These approaches remained for many years the main source of information about ionization energies, electronic states, and electronic transitions of ions. In recent years, high-resolution laser techniques coupled with pulsed field ionization and sample cooling in molecular beams have provided high precision ionization energies and vibrational frequencies of small to intermediate sized molecules, including a number of radicals. More recently, optical parametric oscillator (OPO) IR lasers and free electron lasers have been developed and employed to record the IR spectra of molecular ions in either molecular beams or ion traps. These results, in combination with theoretical ab initio molecular orbital (MO) methods, are providing unprecedented structural and energetic information about gas-phase ions.

The effect of ion position on ICR signal strength

Abstract The calculation of the spatial variation in ICR signal intensity is described using maps of electric field intensity due to a potential applied to the detection plate. Signal strength is mapped for several different ICR cell configurations and the variation in signal for ions undergoing magnetron motion is estimated. Signal strength inhomogeneity does not vary much with cell shape, but is much larger with single-ended detection than with differential detection.

Kinetics of low‐intensity infrared laser photodissociation. The thermal model and application of the Tolman theorem

Infrared multiphoton dissociation by low‐power cw lasers under collision‐free conditions is analyzed from the point of view of thermal kinetic theory. It is pointed out first that the laser has the same effect on the molecular population as irradiation by an equivalent black‐body source, assuming only that the dominant IR emissions of the molecule at steady state are at wavelengths not far from the irradiating IR laser wavelength. Then the dissociation reaction kinetics are considered for this thermal population under the assumption that the reaction perturbs only the high‐energy tail of the Boltzmann distribution. Analysis from this point of view leads to a slightly modified version of the Tolman theorem giving the activation energy as a function of temperature. A random walk simulation of the kinetics for dissociation of a model molecular system was carried out and the validity of the thermal kinetic approach was verified by the excellent agreement between the activation energies from the Tolman‐theorem...

Polyatomic ion-molecule radiative association : theoretical framework and predictions : observations of NO+ + C6H5CN as an example

Abstract A theoretical estimation scheme is described for the radiative association of ions with polyatomic molecules. The rate estimate is based on calculation of the competing processes of redissociation and radiative stabilization of the initial collision complex. Following the definition of a standard hydrocarbon whose properties should approximate those of many real molecules, Ramsperger—Rice—Kassel—Marcus kinetics are used to estimate the redissociation rate, and the IR radiative rate is estimated using established methods. The numbers found in this way are shown to be a useful predictor of the order of magnitude of the radiative association efficiency for a number of known systems. The radiative association of NO + with benzonitrile was predicted to be reasonably efficient. This process was observed in the ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) spectrometer, and was found to have an efficiency per collision of 0.014, and a rate of photon radiation from the collision complex of 29 s −1 , in excellent agreement with the theoretical estimates.

Structure of the Observable Histidine Radical Cation in the Gas Phase: A Captodative α-Radical Ion†

Protein-based radicals play crucial roles in some of the greatest biosynthetic challenges in nature, including photosynthesis and substrate oxidation. Radical centers have been located on aromatic and sulfur-containing amino acid residues, as well as glycine residues. Invariably these charged or neutral radical species are generated through involvement of an adjacent metal cofactor. The positions of charge and spin in the radical cations are paramount for reactivity modulation and proton-coupled electron transfer, but obtaining structural details is difficult even for the simplest models. 2] Experiments in vacuo permit the investigation of intrinsic properties of radical cations in the absence of a reactivity-modulating environment. Radical cations of amino acids and peptides have been produced in vacuo by one-electron transfer in collision-induced dissociations (CIDs) of a ternary complex system comprising copper(II), an auxiliary ligand, and the amino acid or peptide. Such ternary complexes are efficiently generated by electrospray ionization, and probed downstream by using mass spectrometry (MS). Under appropriate conditions, CID of the complex yields the radical cation of the amino acid or peptide that can be isolated and trapped for spectroscopic interrogation. Herein, we report the first infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectroscopic experiments on a prototypical amino acid radical cation, HisC, and its ternary complex ion. In a recent article, Ke et al. showed that, by judicious choice of the auxiliary ligand, HisC of different stabilities are formed through CID of the ternary complex ion. In particular, the use of 2,2’:6’,2’’-terpyridine (tpy) as the ligand leads primarily to a HisC that is stable on the MS timescale and can be isolated and fragmented at a subsequent MS stage; by contrast, employing acetone as the ligand results in a metastable HisC and only its fragment ions are observed. Furthermore, the former, relatively stable HisC fragments by losing a water molecule to give [b1-H]C + and then CO to give [a1-H]C , whereas the latter, metastable HisC dissociates spontaneously by losing first CO2 to give the 4-ethaniminoimidazole radical cation, which then loses methanimine to give the 4-methyleneimidazole radical cation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the (unrestricted) UB3LYP/6-311 + + G(d,p) level of theory predicted five low-energy HisC structures. Scheme 1 shows these structures with additional, new information on the barriers against their interconversions (see Figures S2 and S3 in the Supporting Information for details). Ke et al. postulated that the stable and metastable HisC are His5 (the structure at the global minimum) and His2, respectively. His5 is a captodative aradical ion that differs from the canonical His1 structure in having the a-CH hydrogen migrated to the imino nitrogen of the imidazole ring; His2 is best described as a 4-ethaniminoimidazole radical cation solvated by CO2. His2–His5 are all unconventional structures, and experimental verification of the HisC structure is highly desirable for confirmation of the key roles played by spin and charge delocalization in HisC stabilization. Figure 1 compares the experimental IRMPD spectrum collected for HisC with the DFT-predicted IR spectra of His1–His5. It is apparent that only one predicted IR spectrum, that of His5, resembles the measured IRMPD spectrum. In particular, His5 is the only isomer predicted to exhibit two bands, 1596 and 1653 cm , which are assigned as NH2 scissoring and C=O stretching, respectively, that match the 1606 and 1666 cm 1 bands in the IRMPD spectrum. The lack of a strong band at around 1780–1790 cm 1 in the IRMPD spectrum rules out the presence of a significant fraction of His3 and His4. Similarly, His1 can be ruled out by the presence of the doublet, 1606 and 1666 cm , and the absence of spectroscopic details in the region of 1077– 1320 cm . His2 can be eliminated by the absence of peaks at around 810–820 cm 1 and by the low endothermicity against loss of the solvating CO2 (5 kcalmol ). We interpret the excellent match between the experimental IRMPD spectrum and the predicted IR spectrum of His5 to indicate that His5 is the only abundant species present. This degree of selectivity is feasible as His5 is positioned at the bottom of a deep well on the potential-energy surface of HisC. The barriers against His5 converting into the other His isomers and dissociating into [b1-H]C + are high (Scheme 1), [*] Dr. J. Zhao, Dr. C.-K. Siu, Y. Ke, Dr. U. H. Verkerk, Prof. A. C. Hopkinson, Prof. K. W. M. Siu Department of Chemistry and Centre for Research in Mass Spectrometry, York University, 4700 Keele Street Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 (Canada) E-mail: kwmsiu@yorku.ca