Relative strengths of NH..O and CH..O hydrogen bonds between polypeptide chain segments

Correlated ab initio calculations are used to compare the energetics when the CH and NH groups of the model dipeptide CHONHCH2CONH2 are each allowed to form a H-bond with the proton acceptor O of a peptide group. When the dipeptide is in its C7 conformation, the NH..O H-bond energy is found to be 7.4 kcal/mol, as compared to only 2.8 kcal/mol for the CH..O interaction. On the other hand, the situation reverses, and the CH..O H-bond becomes stronger than NH..O, when the dipeptide adopts a C5 structure. This reversal is important as C5 is nearly equal in stability to C7 for the dipeptide, and is representative of the commonly observed beta-sheet structure in a protein. Immersing the dipeptide-peptide pair in a model solvent weakens both sorts of H-bonds, and in a fairly uniform manner. Consequently, the trends observed in the in vacuo situation retain their validity in either aqueous solution or the protein interior. Likewise, the desolvation penalty, suffered by removing a H-bonded complex from water and placing it in the less polar interior of a protein, is quite similar for the NH..O and CH..O bonds.     

Cooperativity between OH...O and CH...O hydrogen bonds involving dimethyl sulfoxide-H2O-H2O complex

The cooperativity between the O-H...O and C-H...O hydrogen bonds has been studied by quantum chemical calculations at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level in gaseous phase and at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level in solution. The interaction energies of the O-H...O and C-H...O H-bonds are increased by 53 and 58%, respectively, demonstrating that there is a large cooperativity. Analysis of hydrogen-bonding lengths, OH bond lengths, and OH stretching frequencies also supports such a conclusion. By NBO analysis, it is found that orbital interaction plays a great role in enhancing their cooperativity. The strength increase of the C-H...O H-bond is larger than that of the O-H...O H-bond due to the cooperativity. The solvent has a weakening effect on the cooperativity.     

Nature of one-dimensional short hydrogen bonding: bond distances, bond energies, and solvent effects

On the basis of recently synthesized calix[4]hydroquinone (CHQ) nanotubes which were self-assembled with infinitely long one-dimensional (1-D) short hydrogen bonds (SHB), we have investigated the nature of 1-D SHB using first-principles calculations for all the systems including the solvent water. The H-bonds relay (i.e., contiguous H-bonds) effect in CHQs shortens the H...O bond distances significantly (by more than 0.2 A) and increases the bond dissociation energy to a large extent (by more than approximately 4 kcal/mol) due to the highly enhanced polarization effect along the H-bond relay chain. The H-bonds relay effect shows a large increase in the chemical shift associated with the SHB. The average binding energies for the infinite 1-D H-bond arrays of dioles and dions increase by approximately 4 and approximately 9 kcal/mol per H-bond, respectively. The solvent effect (due to nonbridging water molecules) has been studied by explicitly adding water molecules in the CHQ tube crystals. This effect is found to be small with slight weakening of the SHB strength; the H...O bond distance increases only by 0.02 A, and the average binding energy decreases by approximately 1 kcal/mol per H-bond. All these results based on the first-principles calculations are the first detailed analysis of energy gain by SHB and energy loss by solvent effect, based on a partitioning scheme of the interaction energy components. These reliable results elucidate not only the self-assembly phenomena based on the H-bond relay but also the solvent effect on the SHB strength.     

Analysis of complexes pairing hydroperoxyl radical with peroxyformic acid

Ab initio quantum calculations are used to analyze the binding of complexes pairing OOH with HOOCHO. Six minima are located on the potential energy surface, all of cyclic geometry. Of particular interest are the OH...O and CH...O H-bonds that arise in the complexes and the manner in which these interactions influence the internal properties of the subunits. The analysis is complicated by the presence of an intramolecular H-bond in the unperturbed HOOCHO molecule, which must be broken in order to form the pair of intermolecular H-bonds that are responsible for the binding in the most stable complex. The CH bond of HOOCHO is contracted, and its stretching frequency undergoes a blue shift, when this group participates in a H-bond.     

Comparison of various types of hydrogen bonds involving aromatic amino acids

Ab initio calculations are used to compare the abilities of the aromatic groups of the Phe, Tyr, Trp, and His amino acids (modeled respectively by benzene, phenol, indole, and imidazole) to form H-bonds of three different types. Strongest of all are the conventional H-bonds (e.g., OH..O and OH..N). His forms the strongest such H-bond, followed by Tyr, and then by Trp. Whereas OH..phi bonds formed by the approach of a proton donor to the pi electron cloud above the aromatic system are somewhat weaker, they nonetheless represent an important class of stabilizing interactions. The strengths of H-bonds in this category follow the trend Trp > His > Tyr approximately Phe. CH.O interactions are weaker still, and only those involving His and Trp are strong enough to make significant contributions to protein structure. A protonated residue such as HisH(+) makes for a very powerful proton donor, such that even its CH..O H-bonds are stronger than the conventional H-bonds formed by neutral groups.     

Electronic properties of hydrogen-bonded complexes of benzene(HCN)(1-4): comparison with benzene(H2O)(1-4)

The electronic properties, specifically, the dipole and quadrupole moments and the ionization energies of benzene (Bz) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and the respective binding energies, of complexes of Bz(HCN)(1-4), have been studied through MP2 and OVGF calculations. The results are compared with the properties of benzene-water complexes, Bz(H(2)O)(1-4), with the purpose of analyzing the electronic properties of microsolvated benzene, with respect to the strength of the CH/π and OH/π hydrogen-bond (H-bond) interactions. The linear HCN chains have the singular ability to interact with the aromatic ring, preserving the symmetry of the latter. A blue shift of the first vertical ionization energies (IEs) of benzene is observed for the linear Bz(HCN)(1-4) clusters, which increases with the length of the chain. NBO analysis indicates that the increase of the IE with the number of HCN molecules is related to a strengthening of the CH/π H-bond, driven by cooperative effects, increasing the acidity of the hydrogen cyanide H atom involved in the π H-bond. The longer HCN chains (n ≥ 3), however, can bend to form CH/N H-bonds with the Bz H atoms. These cyclic structures are found to be slightly more stable than their linear counterparts. For the nonlinear Bz(HCN)(3-4) and Bz(H(2)O)(2-4) complexes, an increase of the binding energy with the number of solvent molecules and a decrease of the IE of benzene, relative to the values for the Bz(HCN) and Bz(H(2)O) complexes, respectively, are observed. Although a strengthening of the CH/π and OH/π H-bonds, with increasing n, also takes place for the Bz(H(2)O)(2-4) and Bz(HCN)(3-4) nonlinear complexes, Bz proton donor, CH/O, and CH/N interactions are at the origin of this decrease. Thus CH/π and OH/π H-bonds lead to higher IEs of Bz, whereas the weaker CH/N and CH/O H-bond interactions have the opposite effect. The present results emphasize the importance of both aromatic XH/π (X = C, O) and CH/X (X = N, O) interactions for understanding the structure and electronic properties of Bz(HCN)(n) and Bz(H(2)O)(n) complexes.     

Microsolvation effect, hydrogen-bonding pattern, and electron affinity of the uracil-water complexes U-(H2O)n (n = 1, 2, 3)

To achieve a systematic understanding of the influence of microsolvation on the electron accepting behaviors of nucleobases, the reliable theoretical method (B3LYP/DZP++) has been applied to a comprehensive conformational investigation on the uracil-water complexes U-(H(2)O)(n) (n = 1, 2, 3) in both neutral and anionic forms. For the neutral complexes, the conformers of hydration on the O2 of uracil are energetically favored. However, hydration on the O4 atom of uracil is more stable for the radical anions. The electron structure analysis for the H-bonding patterns reveal that the CH...OH(2) type H-bond exists only for di- and trihydrated uracil complexes in which a water dimer or trimer is involved. The electron density structure analysis and the atoms-in-molecules (AIM) analysis for U-(H(2)O)(n) suggest a threshold value of the bond critical point (BCP) density to justify the CH...OH(2) type H-bond; that is, CH...OH(2) could be considered to be a H-bond only when its BCP density value is equal to or larger than 0.010 au. The positive adiabatic electron affinity (AEA) and vertical detachment energy (VDE) values for the uracil-water complexes suggest that these hydrated uracil anions are stable. Moreover, the average AEA and VDE of U-(H(2)O)(n) increase as the number of the hydration waters increases.     

New thermochemical parameter for describing solvent effects on IR stretching vibration frequencies. Communication 2. Assessment of cooperativity effects

Solvent effects on O-H stretching vibration frequency of methanol in hydrogen bond complexes with different bases, CH3OH...B, have been investigated by FTIR spectroscopy. Using chloroform as a solvent results in strengthening of CH3OH...B hydrogen bonding due to cooperativity between CH3OH...B and Cl3CH...CH3OH bonds. A method is proposed for quantifying the hydrogen bond cooperativity effect. The determined cooperativity factors take into account all specific interactions of the solute in proton-donor solvents. In addition, a method of estimation of cooperativity factors Ab and AOX in system (CH3OH)2...B is proposed. It is demonstrated that in such systems, the cooperativity factor of the OH...B bond decreases and that of the OH...O bond increases with increasing the acceptor strength of the base B. The obtained results are in a good agreement with the data obtained previously from matrix-isolation FTIR spectroscopy.     

Two-way effects between hydrogen bond and intramolecular resonance effect: an ab initio study on complexes of formamide and its derivatives with water

Ab initio calculations up to MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ//MP2/cc-pVTZ level, including natural charge population and natural resonance theory analyses, have been carried out to study the two-way effects between hydrogen bond (H-bond) and the intramolecular resonance effect by using the H-bonded complexes of formamide ( FAO) and its derivatives ( FAXs, X represents the heavy atoms in the substituent groups, CH 2, NH, SiH 2, PH, and S) with water as models. Unlike NH 3 and NH 2CH 3 which prefer being H-bond acceptors ( HA) to form H-bond with water, the amino groups in the six monomers, because of the resonance effect, prefer being H-bond donors ( HD) rather HA. Six monomers can all form HD complexes with water, and only two ( FAC and FASi) with the weakest resonance effect are able to form HA complexes with water. The HD H-bond and resonance effect enhance each other (positive two-way effects) whereas the HA H-bond and resonance effect weaken each other (negative two-way effects). The H-bond energies in the six HD complexes are nearly linearly correlated with the weights of the dipolar resonance in Pauling's model and the N-C bond lengths; the correlation coefficients are 0.91 and 0.93, respectively. The positive two-way effects also happens in FAO-water complex, in which the FAO CO group serves as HA ( HA co ). Interestingly, when the HD and HA co H-bonds are present in FAO H-bond complex simultaneously, the enhancements are much more significant, and the energies of the two types of H-bonds are much larger than those when only one type of H-bond is present, reflecting the cooperative effects. By using the knowledge to the two-way effects, we computationally designed a molecule ( FAO- BH 3 ) to increase H-bond energy. Because of the oxygen lone pair donation to the empty pi orbital of BH 3, FAO- BH 3 has a much stronger resonance effect than FAO. As a result, the H-bond energy (-5.55 kcal/mol) in HD H 2O ... FAO- BH 3 complex is much greater than the -3.30 kcal/mol in the HD H 2O...FAO complex. The two-way effects can be rationalized as follows: the resonance effect leads to intramolecular charge shifts in the monomers which facilitate or prevent the charge donation or acceptation of their H-bond partners. Therefore, the H-bonds are strengthened or weakened. In reverse, the charge donations or acceptations of their H-bond partners facilitate or prevent the intramolecular charge shifts in the monomer moieties, which enhance or weaken the resonance effect. The understanding to the two-way effects may be helpful in drug design and refinement by modulating the H-bond strength and in building empirical H-bond models to study large biological molecules. The study supports Pauling's resonance model.     

Cooperativity of conventional and unconventional hydrogen bonds involving imidazole

Correlated ab initio calculations are used to investigate the cooperativity of H‐bonds between imidazole and a pair of water molecules. H‐bonds comprise not only the conventional NH … O and OH … N types, but also CH … O and OH … φ (wherein a proton is donated to the delocalized π cloud lying above the aromatic ring). Conventional and OH … φ H‐bonds obey the normal principles of cooperativity, wherein these bonds are strengthened when a central molecule serves simultaneously as both proton donor and acceptor. In contrast, CH … O bonds do not appear to be amenable to such positive cooperativity. When placed in a polarizable medium, all H‐bonds weaken as the dielectric constant of the solvent grows. The qualitative aspects of the cooperativity are not affected by the medium, although some weakening is observed. Calculations also consider the effects of cooperativity on other aspects of the complexes, including the intermolecular distance, the effect on the covalent X‐H bond length, and IR and NMR spectral data. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

Weak H-bonds. Comparisons of CH···O to NH···O in proteins and PH···N to direct P···N interactions

Whereas CH···O H-bonds are usually weaker than interpeptide NH···O H-bonds, this is not necessarily the case within proteins. The nominally weaker CH···O are surprisingly strong, comparable to, and in some cases stronger than, the NH···O H-bonds in the context of the forces that hold together the adjacent strands in protein β-sheets. The peptide NH is greatly weakened as proton donor in certain conformations of the protein backbone, particularly extended structures, and forms correspondingly weaker H-bonds. The PH group is a weak proton donor, but will form PH···N H-bonds. However, there is a stronger interaction in which P can engage, in which the P atom, not the H, directly approaches the N electron donor to establish a direct P···N interaction. This approach is stabilized by the same sort of electron transfer from the N lone pair to the P-H σ* antibond that characterizes the PH···N H-bond.     

Raman H-bond pair volume for water

The dispersion of the H-bond pair volume Delta V over the decoupled OD and coupled OH-stretching contours from HDO in H(2)O was determined from Raman intensities at pressures to 9700 bar at 301 K. The dispersion of Delta V was determined from -RT[partial differential ln(I(i)/I(REF))/ partial differential P](T) versus omega (in cm(-1)), where i refers to omega's over the stretching contours and I(REF) refers to the reference intensity at the isosbestic frequency. The maximum H-bond pair volume (defined for breakage) is 1.4+/-0.1 cm(3)/mol H-bond, which corresponds to the volume difference between a large dispersion maximum at 2,675 cm(-1) (near the OD stretch omega of HDO in dense supercritical water) and a large, broad minimum centered near 2,375 cm(-1) (just below the OD stretch omega of HDO in lda ice). The average DeltaV is 0.71+/-0.10 cm(3)/mol H-bond. Other minima near 2,625 cm(-1) (OD) and 3550 cm(-1) (OH) refers to bent H-bonds whose angles are approximately 150 deg. Isothermal pressurization of water lowers the molal volume by decreasing the concentration of long, weak H-bonds, and increasing the concentrations of bent H-bonds and short, strong, linear H-bonds. Such bending, shortening, and strengthening produces freezing to ice VI near 10 kbar at 301 K. The isobaric temperature derivative of the maximum H-bond volume is (partial differential Delta V/partial differential T)(P)< or =(2-5) x 10(-3) cm(3)/deg mol H-bond. The OH enthalpy dispersion curve for saturated NaBF(4) in water, yields a large maximum at 3,530-3,540 cm(-1) indicating that BF(4) (-) interacts preferentially with the dangling or "free" OH groups of water thus producing weak, strongly bent H-bonds having angles similar to those of the 3,550 cm(-1) high-pressure H-bond bending feature.     

Molecular dynamics study of the hydration of the hydroxyl radical at body temperature

Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of ˙OH in liquid water at 37 °C has been performed using flexible models of the solute and solvent molecules. We derived the Morse function describing the bond stretching of the radical and the potential for ˙OH-H(2)O interactions, including short-range interactions of hydrogen atoms. Scans of the potential energy surface of the ˙OH-H(2)O complex have been performed using the DFT method with the B3LYP functional and the 6-311G(d,p) basis set. The DFT-derived partial charges, ±0.375e, and the equilibrium bond-length, 0.975 ?, of ˙OH resulted in the dipole moment of 1.76 D. The radical-water radial distribution functions revealed that ˙OH is not built into the solvent structure but it rather occupies distortions or cavities in the hydrogen-bonded network. The solvent structure at 37 °C has been found to be the same as that of pure water. The hydration cage of the radical comprises 13-14 water molecules. The estimated hydration enthalpy -42 ± 5 kJ mol(-1) is comparable with the experimental value -39 ± 6 kJ mol(-1) for 25 °C. Inspection of hydrogen bonds showed the importance of short-range interaction of hydrogen atoms and indicated that neglect of the angular condition greatly overestimates the number of the H-acceptor radical-water bonds. The mean number ?n = 0.85 of radical-water H-bonds has been calculated using geometric definition of H-bond and ?n = 0.62 has been obtained when the energetic condition, E(da)≤-8 kJ mol(-1), was additionally considered. The continuous lifetimes of 0.033 ps and 0.024 ps have been estimated for the radical H-donor and the H-acceptor bonds, respectively. Within statistical uncertainty the radical self-diffusion coefficient, (2.9 ± 0.6) × 10(-9) m(2) s(-1), is the same as (3.1 ± 0.5) × 10(-9) m(2) s(-1) calculated for water in solution and in pure solvent. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of the ˙OH(aq) properties at a biologically relevant body temperature.     

Intramolecular hydrogen bonding and cooperative interactions in carbohydrates via the molecular tailoring approach

In spite of many theoretical and experimental attempts for understanding intramolecular hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) in carbohydrates, a direct quantification of individual intramolecular H-bond energies and the cooperativity among the H-bonded networks has not been reported in the literature. The present work attempts, for the first time, a direct estimation of individual intramolecular O-H...O interaction energies in sugar molecules using the recently developed molecular tailoring approach (MTA). The estimated H-bond energies are in the range of 1.2-4.1 kcal mol(-1). It is seen that the OH...O equatorial-equatorial interaction energies lie between 1.8 and 2.5 kcal mol(-1), with axial-equatorial ones being stronger (2.0-3.5 kcal mol(-1)). The strongest bonds are nonvicinal axial-axial H-bonds (3.0-4.1 kcal mol(-1)). This trend in H-bond energies is in agreement with the earlier reports based on the water-water H-bond angle, solvent-accessible surface area (SASA), and (1)H NMR analysis. The contribution to the H-bond energy from the cooperativity is also estimated using MTA. This contribution is seen to be typically between 0.1 and 0.6 kcal mol(-1) when H-bonds are a part of a relatively weak equatorial-equatorial H-bond network and is much higher (0.5-1.1 kcal mol(-1)) when H-bonds participate in an axial-axial H-bond network.     

Dynamics and mechanism of structural diffusion in linear hydrogen bond

Dynamics and mechanism of proton transfer in a protonated hydrogen bond (H-bond) chain were studied, using the CH(3)OH(2)(+)(CH(3)OH)(n) complexes, n = 1-4, as model systems. The present investigations used B3LYP/TZVP calculations and Born-Oppenheimer MD (BOMD) simulations at 350 K to obtain characteristic H-bond structures, energetic and IR spectra of the transferring protons in the gas phase and continuum liquid. The static and dynamic results were compared with the H(3)O(+)(H(2)O)(n) and CH(3)OH(2)(+)(H(2)O)(n) complexes, n = 1-4. It was found that the H-bond chains with n = 1 and 3 represent the most active intermediate states and the CH(3)OH(2)(+)(CH(3)OH)(n) complexes possess the lowest threshold frequency of proton transfer. The IR spectra obtained from BOMD simulations revealed that the thermal energy fluctuation and dynamics help promote proton transfer in the shared-proton structure with n = 3 by lowering the vibrational energy for the interconversion between the oscillatory shuttling and structural diffusion motions, leading to a higher population of the structural diffusion motion than in the shared-proton structure with n = 1. Additional explanation on the previously proposed mechanisms was introduced, with the emphases on the energetic of the transferring proton, the fluctuation of the number of the CH(3)OH molecules in the H-bond chain, and the quasi-dynamic equilibriums between the shared-proton structure (n = 3) and the close-contact structures (n ≥ 4). The latter prohibits proton transfer reaction in the H-bond chain from being concerted, since the rate of the structural diffusion depends upon the lifetime of the shared-proton intermediate state.     

Infrared spectroscopic investigation of poly(2-methoxyethyl vinyl ether) during thermosensitive phase separation in water

Hydration changes of poly(2-methoxyethyl vinyl ether) (PMOVE) synthesized via living cationic polymerization have been investigated during a temperature-responsive phase separation in water by using infrared spectroscopy. An aqueous PMOVE solution has lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs) of 66 degrees C in H2O and 65 degrees C in D2O at approximately 15 wt %. During phase separation, the C-H stretching (nu(C-H)) bands of PMOVE shift downward (red shift). In particular, the IR band assigned to the antisymmetric stretching vibration of the terminal methyl groups exhibits a remarkably large red shift by 16 cm-1. The band also exhibits a red shift with increasing polymer concentration at T < Tp. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the models of hydrated PMOVE indicate that the shift is due mainly to the breaking of hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) between the oxygen of the methoxy groups and water and partially to the breaking of the CH...O H-bond to them.     

Hindered inversion of chiral ion-dipole pairs.

O-Protonated S-(-)-1-phenyl-1-methoxyethane (IS) has been generated in the gas phase by CH3(2)Cl+ methylation of S-(-)-1-phenylethanol (1S). Detailed information on the reorganization dynamics of the intimate ion-dipole pair (IIS), arising from IS by C-O bond dissociation, is inferred from the kinetic study of the intramolecular inversion of configuration of IS vs its dissociation to alpha-methylbenzyl cation (III) and CH(3)OH. The behavior of IIS in the gas phase is compared to that observed in aqueous solutions, where the loss of optical activity of IS is prevented by exchange of the leaving CH3OH with the solvent shell. Hindered inversion of IS in solution is attributed to the operation of attractive interactions between the moving CH3OH moiety and the solvent cage which inhibit internal return in the intimate ion-dipole pair IIS. Similar interactions do not operate in the solvolysis of 18O-labeled 1S in aqueous acids, whose loss of optical activity efficiently competes with exchange of the leaving H2(18)O with the solvent shell.     

与蛋白质调控DNA空穴迁移相关的具有负离解能特征的亚稳态氢键

利用密度泛函理论方法研究了作为空穴迁移载体的蛋白质复合的DNA三聚体(Protonated arginine…guanine…cytosine, ArgH⁺-GC)的氢键性质. 结果表明, 空穴迁移通过该载体单元时此类氢键表现为亚稳态, 且具有明显的负离解能. 正常情况下ArgH⁺基团在大小沟均能与GC碱对形成氢键, 且具有正的离解能. 然而, 当空穴转移至此将削弱氢键至亚稳态, 使之具有一定的离解势垒和负的离解能. 这种势垒抑制的负离解能现象意味着由于空穴俘获导致此三聚体结构单元在它的ArgH⁺…N7/O6键区储存了一定的能量(约108.78 kJ/mol). 该氢键离解通道受控于此键区两个相关组分之间的静电排斥和氢键吸引之间的平衡以及这两个相反作用随氢键距离不同的衰减速率. 基于电子密度分布的拓扑性质以及键临界点的Laplacian数值分析澄清了此类特殊的能量现象主要源自通过高能氢键(ArgH⁺…N7/O6)连接的授受体间的静电排斥. 进一步空穴俘获诱导的G→C质子转移可扩展负离解能区至ArgH⁺…N7/O6和Watson-Crick(WC) 氢键区. 另外, ArgH⁺ 结合到GC的大小沟增加其电离势, 因此削弱其空穴传导能力, 削弱程度取决于ArgH⁺与GC的距离. 推而广之, 在protonated lysine-GC和protonated histidine-GC体系也可观察到类似的现象. 显然, 此类性质可调的亚稳态氢键可调控DNA空穴迁移机理. 此工作为理解蛋白质调控的DNA空穴迁移机理提供了重要的能量学信息.     

Clusters of hydrated methane sulfonic acid CH3SO3H.(H2O)n (n = 1-5): a theoretical study

Ab initio and density functional methods have been used to examine the structures and energetics of the hydrated clusters of methane sulfonic acid (MSA), CH3SO3H.(H2O)n (n = 1-5). For small clusters with one or two water molecules, the most stable clusters have strong cyclic hydrogen bonds between the proton of OH group in MSA and the water molecules. With three or more water molecules, the proton transfer from MSA to water becomes possible, forming ion-pair structures between CH3SO3- and H3O+ moieties. For MSA.(H2O)3, the energy difference between the most stable ion pair and neutral structures are less than 1 kJ/mol, thus coexistence of neutral and ion-pair isomers are expected. For larger clusters with four and five water molecules, the ion-pair isomers are more stable (>10 kJ/mol) than the neutral ones; thus, proton transfer takes place. The ion-pair clusters can have direct hydrogen bond between CH3SO3- and H3O+ or indirect one through water molecule. For MSA.(H2O)5, the energy difference between ion pairs with direct and indirect hydrogen bonds are less than 1 kJ/mol; namely, the charge separation and acid ionization is energetically possible. The calculated IR spectra of stable isomers of MSA.(H2O)n clusters clearly demonstrate the significant red shift of OH stretching of MSA and hydrogen-bonded OH stretching of water molecules as the size of cluster increases.     

Changes in water structure induced by the guanidinium cation and implications for protein denaturation

The effect of the guanidinium cation on the hydrogen bonding strength of water was analyzed using temperature-excursion Fourier transform infrared spectra of the OH stretching vibration in 5% H 2O/95% D 2O solutions containing a range of different guanidine-HCl and guanidine-HBr concentrations. Our findings indicate that the guanidinium cation causes the water H-bonds in solution to become more linear than those found in bulk water, and that it also inhibits the response of the H-bond network to increased temperature. Quantum chemical calculations also reveal that guanidinium affects both the charge distribution on water molecules directly H-bonded to it as well as the OH stretch frequency of H-bonds in which that water molecule is the donor. The implications of our findings to hydrophobic solvation and protein denaturation are discussed.