Amide I vibrational frequencies of alpha-helical peptides based upon ONIOM and density functional theory (DFT) studies

We present ONIOM and pure DFT calculations on infrared spectra of alpha-helical-capped polyalanines. The calculations used two-layer ONIOM (B3LYP/D95**:AM1) calculations of the amide I vibrational frequencies for acetyl(ala)NNH2 (N=8, 10, 12-18) whose structures have been previously completely optimized by the same method. These are the first such calculations based upon structures of alpha-helical peptides that are completely optimized using DFT or molecular orbital methods. As the peptide becomes longer, the amide I band becomes both more intense and more red shifted. However, the individual absorptions that contribute most to the band vary between three patterns: one very intense absorption, two absorptions of similar intensity, and two strong absorptions where one is roughly twice as intense as the other. This pattern appears to be related to the relative number of H bonds in the individual H-bonding chains; however, there is one exception. Using 14C=O's to selectively decouple specific C=O's, we found that the couplings between the C=O's within each of the three individual H-bonding chains within the helices follow the same pattern previously reported for planar H-bonding chains of formamides. The coupling between the H-bonding chains appears to involve through-space coupling between the H-bonding chains. While decoupling individual C=O's always decreases the intensity of the amide I band, it leads to complex changes in the individual amide I absorptions that contribute to the band. Depending upon the position of the 14C=O, the amide I band can either red or blue shift. Moreover, the individual absorptions that contribute to the band can increase or decrease in intensity as well as shift. The patterns of the individual absorptions (mentioned above) also change. Using the C=O stretch of acetamide as a reference, we calculate the red shifts for the most intense absorptions to be much greater than predicted by the transition dipole method.     

Through hydrogen-bond vibrational coupling in hydrogen-bonding chains of 4-pyridones with implications for peptide amide I absorptions: density functional theory compared with transition dipole coupling

We present B3LYP/D95** calculations on the C=O and N-H couplings in H-bonded chains of 4-pyridones. 14C-substitutions are used to decouple various vibrations for purposes of illustration. The coupled C=O vibrations bear analogy to the amide I bands of proteins and peptides. The coupling of the C=O's occurs primarily via the cooperative H-bonds rather than transition dipole coupling (TDC), as demonstrated by the fact that (1) the couplings are greater than previously reported for similar studies on formamides despite the larger distance between the C=O's in the pyridone chains (TDC coupling decreases with distance) and (2) the red shifts (also greater than for formamides) can be attributed to the changes in the geometries (particularly the C=O bond lengths) of the individual 4-pyridones in the H-bonding chains induced by the H-bonds and resulting polarization of the monomers.     

Ab initio modeling of amide I coupling in antiparallel beta-sheets and the effect of 13C isotopic labeling on infrared spectra

Isotopic substitution with 13C on the amide C=O has become an important means of determining localized structural information about peptide conformations with vibrational spectroscopy. Various approaches to the modeling of the interactions between labeled amide sites, specifically for antiparallel two-stranded, beta-forming peptides, were investigated, including different force fields [dipole-dipole interaction vs density functional theory (DFT) treatments], basis sets, and sizes of model peptides used for ab initio calculations, as well as employing models of solvation. For these beta-sheet systems the effect of the relative positions of the 13C isotopic labels in each strand on their infrared spectra was investigated. The results suggest that the interaction between labeled amide groups in different strands can be used as an indicator of local beta-structure formation, because coupling between close-lying C=O groups on opposing chains leads to the largest frequency shifts, yet some alternate placements can lead to intensity enhancements. The basic character of the coupling interaction between labeled modes on opposing strands is independent of changes in peptide length, water solvent environment, twisting of the sheet structure, and basis set used in the calculations, although the absolute frequencies and detailed coupling magnitudes change under each of these perturbations. In particular, two strands of three amides each contain the basic interactions needed to simulate larger sheets, with the only exception that the C=O groups forming H-bonded rings at the termini can yield different coupling values than central ones of the same structure. Spectral frequencies and intensities were modeled ab initio by DFT primarily at the BPW91/6-31G** level for pairs of three, four, and six amide strands. Comparison to predictions of a classical coupled oscillator model show qualitative but not quantitative agreement with these DFT results.     

Single-conformation infrared spectra of model peptides in the amide I and amide II regions: Experiment-based determination of local mode frequencies and inter-mode coupling

Single-conformation infrared spectra in the amide I and amide II regions have been recorded for a total of 34 conformations of three α-peptides, three β-peptides, four α∕β-peptides, and one γ-peptide using resonant ion-dip infrared spectroscopy of the jet-cooled, isolated molecules. Assignments based on the amide NH stretch region were in hand, with the amide I∕II data providing additional evidence in favor of the assignments. A set of 21 conformations that represent the full range of H-bonded structures were chosen to characterize the conformational dependence of the vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities of the local amide I and amide II modes and their amide I∕I and amide II∕II coupling constants. Scaled, harmonic calculations at the DFT M05-2X∕6-31+G(d) level of theory accurately reproduce the experimental frequencies and infrared intensities in both the amide I and amide II regions. In the amide I region, Hessian reconstruction was used to extract local mode frequencies and amide I∕I coupling constants for each conformation. These local amide I frequencies are in excellent agreement with those predicted by DFT calculations on the corresponding (13)C = (18)O isotopologues. In the amide II region, potential energy distribution analysis was combined with the Hessian reconstruction scheme to extract local amide II frequencies and amide II∕II coupling constants. The agreement between these local amide II frequencies and those obtained from DFT calculations on the N-D isotopologues is slightly worse than for the corresponding comparison in the amide I region. The local mode frequencies in both regions are dictated by a combination of the direct H-bonding environment and indirect, "backside" H-bonds to the same amide group. More importantly, the sign and magnitude of the inter-amide coupling constants in both the amide I and amide II regions is shown to be characteristic of the size of the H-bonded ring linking the two amide groups. These amide I∕I and amide II∕II coupling constants remain similar in size for α-, β-, and γ-peptides despite the increasing number of C-C bonds separating the amide groups. These findings provide a simple, unifying picture for future attempts to base the calculation of both nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor coupling constants on a joint footing.     

Calculation of trans-hydrogen-bond 13C-15N three-bond and other scalar J-couplings in cooperative peptide models. A density functional theory study

We report B3LYP DFT calculations on peptide models that consider the effects of cooperative interactions with proximate H-bonds and local geometry at the H-bonding site upon trans-H-bond (13)C-(15)N three-bond scalar J-couplings. The calculations predict that cooperative interactions with other H-bonds within a H-bonding chain can significantly increase the magnitude of these couplings. Such increases are due to a combination of the presence of the neighboring H-bonds and the slight increase in C=O distances expected for peptide H-bonds near the centers of H-bonding chains. The energies of H-bonds inferred from H-bonding distances, alone, could be significantly in error if the effects of neighboring H-bonds are ignored.     

Anharmonic vibrational probe for N-methylacetamide in different micro-environments

In the present study, anharmonic vibrational properties of the amide modes in N-methylacetamide (NMA), a model molecule for peptide vibrational spectroscopy, are examined by DFT calculations. The 3N-6 normal mode frequencies, diagonal and off-diagonal anharmonicities are evaluated by means of the second order vibrational perturbation theory (VPT2). Good performance of B3LYP/6-31+G** is found for predicting vibrational frequencies in comparison with gas phase experimental data. The amide vibrational modes are assigned through potential energy distribution analysis (PED). The solvation effect on the amide vibrational modes is modeled within the PCM method. From gas phase to polar solvents, red shifts are observed for both harmonic and anharmonic vibrational frequency of amide I mode while the CO bond length increases upon the solvent polarity. Cubic and quartic force constants are further calculated to evaluate the origin of the anharmonicity for the amide I mode of NMA in different micro-environments.     

Peptide bond vibrational coupling

Neutral trialanine (Ala3), which is geometrically constrained to have its peptide bond at Phi and Psi angles of alpha-helix and PPII-like conformers, are studied at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory to examine vibrational interactions between adjacent peptide units. Delocalization of the amide I, amide II, and amide III3 vibrations are analyzed by calculating their potential energy distributions (PED). The vibrational coupling strengths are estimated from the frequency shifts between the amide vibrations of Ala3 and the local amide bond vibrations of isotopically substituted Ala3 derivatives. Our calculations show the absence of vibrational coupling of the amide I and amide II bands in the PPII conformations. In contrast, the alpha-helical conformation shows strong coupling between the amide I vibrations due to the favorable orientation of the C=O bonds and the strong transitional dipole coupling. The amide III3 vibration shows weak coupling in both the alpha-helix and PPII conformations; this band can be treated as a local independent vibration. Our calculated results in general agree with our previous experimental UV Raman studies of a 21-residue mainly alanine-based peptide (AP).     

Nature of vibrational coupling in helical peptides: an isotopic labeling study

Infrared (IR) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra were measured for a series of isotopically ((13)C on two or more amide Cdouble bond]O) labeled, 25 residue, alpha-helical peptides of the sequence Ac-(AAAAK)(4)AAAAY-NH(2) that were also studied in the previous paper. Theoretical IR and VCD simulations were performed for correspondingly isotopically labeled Ac-A(24)-NHCH(3) constrained to an alpha-helical conformation by use of property tensor transfer from density functional theory (DFT) calculations on Ac-A(10)-NHCH(3). The simulations predicted and experiments confirmed that the vibrational coupling constants between i, i + 1 and i, i + 2 residues differ in sign, thus leading to a reversal of the (13)C VCD pattern and explaining the large shift in the (13)C amide I frequency as reported in the previous paper. The sign of the coupling constant remained consistent for larger label separation (with the exception of i, i + 4) and for more labels with uniform separation. Such effects confirm that the isotopically labeled group vibrations are essentially only coupled to each other and are effectively uncoupled from those of the unlabeled groups. This development confirms the utility of isotopic labels for site-specific structural studies with vibrational spectra. Observed spectral effects cannot be explained by considering only transition dipole coupling (TDC) between amide oscillators, particularly for smaller label separations, but the TDC and ab initio predicted couplings roughly converge at large separation.     

Dependence of amide vibrations on hydrogen bonding

The effect of hydrogen bonding on the amide group vibrational spectra has traditionally been rationalized by invoking a resonance model where hydrogen bonding impacts the amide functional group by stabilizing its [(-)O-C=NH (+)] structure over the [O=C-NH] structure. However, Triggs and Valentini's UV-Raman study of solvation and hydrogen bonding effects on epsilon-caprolactum, N, N-dimethylacetamide (DMA), and N-methylacetamide (NMA) ( Triggs, N. E.; Valentini, J. J. J. Phys. Chem. 1992, 96, 6922-6931) casts doubt on the validity of this model by demonstrating that, contrary to the resonance model prediction, carbonyl hydrogen bonding does not impact the AmII' frequency of DMA. In this study, we utilize density functional theory (DFT) calculations to examine the impact of hydrogen bonding on the C=O and N-H functional groups of NMA, which is typically used as a simple model of the peptide bond. Our calculations indicate that, as expected, the hydrogen bonding frequency dependence of the AmI vibration predominantly derives from the C=O group, whereas the hydrogen bonding frequency dependence of the AmII vibration primarily derives from N-H hydrogen bonding. In contrast, the hydrogen bonding dependence of the conformation-sensitive AmIII band derives equally from both C=O and N-H groups and thus, is equally responsive to hydrogen bonding at the C=O or N-H site. Our work shows that a clear understanding of the normal mode composition of the amide vibrations is crucial for an accurate interpretation of the hydrogen bonding dependence of amide vibrational frequencies.     

Cross-strand coupling of a beta-hairpin peptide stabilized with an Aib-Gly turn studied using isotope-edited IR spectroscopy

Isotope-edited IR spectroscopy was used to study a series of singly and doubly 13C=O-labeled beta-hairpin peptides stabilized by an Aib-Gly turn sequence. The double-labeled peptides have amide I' IR spectra that show different degrees of vibrational coupling between the 13C-labeled amides due to variations in the local geometry of the peptide structure. The single-labeled peptides provide controls to determine frequencies characteristic of the diagonal force field (FF) contributions at each position for the uncoupled 13C=O modes. Separation of diagonal FF and coupling effects on the spectra are used to explain the cross-strand labeled spectral patterns. DFT calculations based on an idealized model beta-hairpin peptide correctly predict the vibrational coupling patterns. Extending these model results by consideration of frayed ends and the hairpin conformational flexibility yields an alternate interpretation of details of the spectra. Temperature-dependent isotopically labeled IR spectra reveal differences in the thermal stabilities of the individual isotopically labeled sites. This is the first example of using an IR-based isotopic labeling technique to differentiate structural transitions at specific sites along the peptide backbone in model beta-hairpin peptides.     

Theoretical study of the red‐ and blue‐shifted hydrogen bonds of nitroxyl and acetylene dimers

Ab initio molecular orbital and density functional theory (DFT) in conjunction with different basis sets calculations were performed to study the C? H…O red‐shifted and N? H…π blue‐shifted hydrogen bonds in HNO? C₂H₂ dimers. The geometric structures, vibrational frequencies and interaction energies were calculated by both standard and counterpoise (CP)‐corrected methods. In addition, the G3B3 method was employed to calculate the interaction energies. The topological and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis were investigated the origin of N? H…π blue‐shifted hydrogen bond. From the NBO analysis, the electron density decrease in the σ* (N? H) is due to the significant electron density redistribution effect. The blue shifts of the N? H stretching frequency are attributed to a cooperative effect between the rehybridization and electron density redistribution. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

Solvent effects on IR and VCD spectra of helical peptides: DFT-based static spectral simulations with explicit water

Simulations of IR and VCD spectra are carried out for model alpha-helical, 3(10)-helical, and 3(1)-helical (polyProII-like) oligopeptides, with up to 21 amide groups, and including explicit consideration of effects of directly hydrogen-bonded solvent (water). Parameters used were obtained from ab initio density functional theory (DFT) computations of force field, atomic polar and axial tensors for oligopeptides of 5 to 7 amides, whose structures were constrained in (phi,psi) to target the secondary structure type but otherwise fully optimized. By comparison with experimental data as well as with calculations for identical but isolated (gas phase) peptides, the computed effects of an inner shell of aqueous solvent on the vibrational spectra of helical oligopeptides are illustrated. The interaction with solvent causes significant frequency shifts of the amide bands, but only minor changes in the characteristic IR intensity distributions and splittings and the VCD band shapes. Better agreement with experimental band shapes is achieved for the alpha-helical amide I' (N-deuterated) VCD by inclusion of explicit solvent in the calculations. Some improvements are also observed in theoretical VCD predictions for 13C labeled alpha-helical peptides when solvated models are used. However, the qualitative isotopic splitting patterns are preserved and just shifted in frequency due to consistent, solvent independent interamide coupling constants. The critical match of experiment and theory for relative positions of transitions in peptides with specifically separated 13C=O labels, including and neglecting solvent, confirms the stability of the coupling interactions. Despite these solvation effects, the calculated VCD band shape of the amide I mode is shown to be a reliable conformational probe, since it remains basically insensitive to frequency shifts caused by environment. Thus theoretical VCD simulations, even vacuum calculations, are shown to provide useful spectral predictions for solution-phase peptides.     

End-cap effects on vibrational structures of finite-length carbon nanotubes

Vibrational structures of C60-related finite-length nanotubes, C(40+20n) and C(42+18n) (1 < or = n < or = 4), in which n is, respectively, the number of cyclic cis- and trans-polyene chains inserted between fullerene hemispheres, are analyzed from density functional theory (DFT) calculations. To illuminate the end-cap effects on their vibrational structures, the corresponding tubes terminated by H atoms C(20n)H20 and C(18n)H18 (1 < or = n < or = 5) are also investigated. DFT calculations show a broad range of vibrational frequencies for the finite-size nanotubes: high-frequency modes (1100-1600 cm(-1)) containing oscillations along tangential directions (tangential modes), medium-frequency modes (700-850 cm(-1)) whose oscillations are located on the edges or end caps, and low-frequency modes (300-600 cm(-1)) involving oscillations along the radial directions (radial modes). Broadening of the calculated frequencies is due to the number of nodes in the standing waves of normal modes in the finite-size tubes. In the capped tubes, calculated vibrational frequencies are insensitive to the number of chains (n), whereas in the uncapped tubes, most vibrational frequencies change significantly with an increase in tube length. The discrepancy in the size dependency is reasonably understood by their C-C bonding networks; the capped tubes have similar bond-length alternation patterns within the polyene chains irrespective of n, whereas the uncapped tubes have various bond-deformation patterns. Thus, DFT calculations illuminate that the edge effects have strong impacts on the vibrational frequencies in the finite-size nanotubes.     

Electrostatic DFT map for the complete vibrational amide band of NMA

An anharmonic vibrational Hamiltonian for the amide I, II, III, and A modes of N-methyl acetamide (NMA), recast in terms of the 19 components of an external electric field and its first and second derivative tensors (electrostatic DFT map), is calculated at the DFT(BPW91/6-31G(d,p)) level. Strong correlations are found between NMA geometry and the amide frequency fluctuations calculated using this Hamiltonian together with the fluctuating solvent electric field obtained from the MD simulations in TIP3 water. The amide I and A frequencies are strongly positively correlated with the C=O and N-H bond lengths. The C=O and C-N amide bond lengths are negatively correlated, suggesting the solvent-induced fluctuations of the contribution of zwitterionic resonance form. Sampling the global electric field in the entire region of the transition charge densities (TCDs) is required for accurate infrared line shape simulations. Collective electrostatic solvent coordinates which represent the fluctuations of the 10 lowest amide fundamental and overtone states are reported. Normal-mode analysis of an NMA-3H(2)O cluster shows that the 660 cm(-1) to 1100 cm(-1) oscillation found in the frequency autocorrelation functions of the amide modes may be ascribed to the two bending vibrations of intermolecular hydrogen bonds with the amide oxygen of NMA.     

Glycosidic linkage,N‐acetyl side‐chain,and other structural properties of methyl 2‐acetamido‐2‐deoxy‐β‐d‐glucopyranosyl‐(1→4)‐β‐d‐mannopyranoside monohydrate and related compounds

The crystal structure of methyl 2‐acetamido‐2‐deoxy‐β‐d ‐glycopyranosyl‐(1→4)‐β‐d ‐mannopyranoside monohydrate, C₁₅H₂₇NO₁₁·H₂O, was determined and its structural properties compared to those in a set of mono‐ and disaccharides bearing N‐acetyl side‐chains in βGlcNAc aldohexopyranosyl rings. Valence bond angles and torsion angles in these side chains are relatively uniform, but C—N (amide) and C—O (carbonyl) bond lengths depend on the state of hydrogen bonding to the carbonyl O atom and N—H hydrogen. Relative to N‐acetyl side chains devoid of hydrogen bonding, those in which the carbonyl O atom serves as a hydrogen‐bond acceptor display elongated C—O and shortened C—N bonds. This behavior is reproduced by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, indicating that the relative contributions of amide resonance forms to experimental C—N and C—O bond lengths depend on the solvation state, leading to expectations that activation barriers to amide cis–trans isomerization will depend on the polarity of the environment. DFT calculations also revealed useful predictive information on the dependencies of inter‐residue hydrogen bonding and some bond angles in or proximal to β‐(1→4) O‐glycosidic linkages on linkage torsion angles ? and ψ. Hypersurfaces correlating ? and ψ with the linkage C—O—C bond angle and total energy are sufficiently similar to render the former a proxy of the latter.     

Simulation of infrared spectra for beta-hairpin peptides stabilized by an Aib-Gly turn sequence: correlation between conformational fluctuation and vibrational coupling

Vibrational spectra of a 12-residue beta-hairpin peptide, RYVEVBGKKILQ (HBG), stabilized by an Aib-Gly turn sequence (B = Aib) were investigated theoretically using a combination of molecular dynamics (MD) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Selected conformations of HBG were extracted from a classical MD trajectory and used for spectral simulations. DFT calculations, based on the Cartesian coordinate spectral property transfer protocol, were carried out for peptide structures in which all residues are replaced with Ala, except for the Aib and Gly residues, but the backbone (phi, psi, omega) structure of the original configuration is retained. The simulations provide a basis for interpretation of the HBG amide I infrared spectra in terms of structural variables such as detailed secondary structure and thermal conformational fluctuation as well as vibrational coupling as indicated by spectra of 13C isotope-labeled variants. The characteristic amide I band shape of such small beta-hairpin peptides appears to arise from the structure of the short antiparallel beta-sheet strands. The role of structural parameter fluctuation in vibrational coupling is evaluated by comparison of DFT-derived amide coupling constants for selected configurations and from transition dipole coupling calculations of coupling parameters between (13)C isotopically labeled residues for a MD-derived ensemble of configurations. Calculated results were compared with the experimentally obtained spectra for several (13)C isotope-labeled peptides of this sequence.     

Peptide 17O chemical shielding and electric field gradient tensors

Complete (17)O chemical shielding (CS) and quadrupole coupling (QC) tensors and their molecular orientations were determined for the central residues in two tripeptides Gly-Gly-Val (GGV) and Ala-Gly-Gly (AGG) by single-crystal NMR methods. Tensor orientations in the two peptides are very similar, however, principal components are different. The most shielded CS and smallest magnitude QC components are normal to the peptide plane, while the most deshielded CS and largest QC components are in the peptide plane either at an angle of 17 degrees (CS) or perpendicular (QC) to the C=O bond. Comparisons of principal components from experiment and DFT calculations indicate that the smaller shielding tensor span in GGV (549 ppm) compared to AGG (606 ppm) is likely due to two factors: a shorter "direct" H-bond distance to the peptide carbonyl oxygen and an "indirect" H bond of the peptide NH to a carboxylate rather than a carbonyl. We anticipate that (17)O NMR should be generally useful for probing H-bonding and local electrostatic interactions in proteins and polypeptides. Using the single-crystal data as an accurate reference, we show that a useful subset of the NMR parameters, QC and CS principal components and their relative orientation, can be obtained with reasonable accuracy from a very high-field (21.2 T), stationary sample powder spectrum.     

Interaction of the important species HNO and HFSO2 in the atmosphere: Theoretical study of the N?H and S?H blue‐shifted hydrogen bonds

Ab initio molecular orbital and density functional theory (DFT) in conjunction with different basis sets calculations were performed to study the N? H…O and S? H…O blue‐shifted H‐bonds in the HNO…HFSO₂ complex. The geometric structures, vibrational frequencies, and interaction energies were calculated by both standard and CP‐corrected methods. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis was used to investigate the origin of blue‐shifted H‐bonds, showing that the decrease in the σ*(N? H) and σ*(S? H) is due to the electron density redistribution effect. The structure reorganization effect on the blue‐shifted hydrogen bonds was discussed in detail. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Coupling of complex aromatic ring vibrations to solvent through hydrogen bonds: effect of varied on-ring and off-ring hydrogen-bonding substitutions

In this study, we examine the coupling of a complex ring vibration to solvent through hydrogen-bonding interactions. We compare phenylalanine, tyrosine, l-dopa, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and hydroxyl-dl-dopa, a group of physiologically important small molecules that vary by single differences in H-bonding substitution. By examination of the temperature dependence of infrared absorptions of these molecules, we show that complex, many-atom vibrations can be coupled to solvent through hydrogen bonds and that the extent of that coupling is dependent on the degree of both on- and off-ring H-bonding substitution. The coupling is seen as a temperature-dependent frequency shift in infrared spectra, but the determination of the physical origin of that shift is based on additional data from temperature-dependent optical experiments and ab initio calculations. The optical experiments show that these small molecules are most sensitive to their immediate H-bonding environment rather than to bulk solvent properties. Ab initio calculations demonstrate H-bond-mediated vibrational coupling for the system of interest and also show that the overall small molecule solvent dependence is determined by a complex interplay of specific interactions and bulk solvation characteristics. Our findings indicate that a full understanding of biomolecule vibrational properties must include consideration of explicit hydrogen-bonding interactions with the surrounding microenvironment.     

Bonding of multiple noble-gas atoms to CUO in solid neon: CUO(Ng)n (Ng=Ar, Kr, Xe; n=1, 2, 3, 4) complexes and the singlet-triplet crossover point

Laser-ablated U atoms co-deposited with CO in excess neon produce the novel CUO molecule, which forms distinct Ng complexes (Ng=Ar, Kr, Xe) with the heavier noble gases. The CUO(Ng) complexes are identified through CO isotopic and Ng reagent substitution and comparison to results of DFT frequency calculations. The U[bond]C and U[bond]O stretching frequencies of CUO(Ng) complexes are slightly red-shifted from neon matrix (1)Sigma(+) CUO values, which indicates a (1)A' ground state for the CUO(Ng) complexes. The CUO(Ng)(2) complexes in excess neon are likewise singlet molecules. However, the CUO(Ng)(3) and CUO(Ng)(4) complexes exhibit very different stretching frequencies and isotopic behaviors that are similar to those of CUO(Ar)(n) in a pure argon matrix, which has a (3)A" ground state based on DFT vibrational frequency calculations. This work suggests a coordination sphere model in which CUO in solid neon is initially solvated by four or more Ne atoms. Up to four heavier Ng atoms successively displace the Ne atoms leading ultimately to CUO(Ng)(4) complexes. The major changes in the CUO stretching frequencies from CUO(Ng)(2) to CUO(Ng)(3) provides evidence for the crossover from a singlet ground state to a triplet ground state.