Arginine zwitterion is more stable than the canonical form when solvated by a water molecule

We present calculations for the Arg-H2O system and predict that the zwitterionic Arg is thermodynamically more stable than the canonical form in the gas phase under the influence of a single water molecule because of the strongly basic guanidine side chain. Canonical conformers of Arg-H2O are found to isomerize to the zwitterionic forms via a small barrier (approximately 6 kcal/mol).     

An interaction potential between an alanine zwitterion and a water molecule based on ab initio calculations

Interaction energies between an alanine zwitterion and a water molecule at 150 different positions and orientations have been calculated using the ab initio method with the minimal basis set and employing the counterpoise method to eliminate the basis set superposition error. Dispersion energies are estimated using the Slater–Kirkwood formula. Out of a total of 150 computed interaction energies, 140 whose SCF interaction energies are below 5 kcal/mol have been fitted with a summation of atom-atom pair potentials in the form of the Lennard–Jones potential plus an electrostatic term. The standard deviation for this fitting is 0.49 kcal/mol. A sampling scheme regarding geometrical configurations is presented. Twenty rays are uniformly drawn from the origin of coordinates, a floatable division with equal ratios is made along each ray, and one of 60 orientations is randomly taken as the orientation of a water molecule. A nonlinear fitting method is used with a restriction on the sign change of fitting coefficients.     

Solvation of glycyl zwitterion with water

Low-temperature Monte Carlo simulation of the gas-phase solvated glycyl zwitterion predicts water aggregation into hydrogen bonded hexamers which encapsulate the zwitterion. Several water molecules distort to produce charge separation to offset the dipole of the zwitterion.     

Collision-induced dissociation of halide ion-arginine complexes: evidence for anion-induced zwitterion formation in gas-phase arginine

We report the first low-energy collisional-induced dissociation studies of the X(-)·arginine (X(-) = F(-), Cl(-), Br(-), I(-), NO(3)(-), ClO(3)(-)) series of clusters to investigate the novel phenomenom of anion-induced zwitterion formation in a gas-phase amino acid. Fragmentation of the small halide ion clusters (F(-)·arginine and Cl(-)·arginine) is dominated by deprotonation of the arginine, whereas the major fragmentation channel for the largest ion clusters (I(-)·arginine and ClO(3)(-)·arginine) corresponds to simple cluster fission into the ion and neutral molecule. However, the fragmentation profiles of Br(-)·arginine and NO(3)(-)·arginine, display distinctive features that are consistent with the presence of the zwitterionic form of the amino acid in these clusters. The various dissociation pathways have been studied as a function of % collision energy and are discussed in comparison to the fragmentation profiles of protonated and deprotonated arginine. Electronic structure calculations are presented for Br(-)·arginine to support the presence of the zwitterionic amino acid in this complex. The results obtained in this work provide important information on the low-energy potential energy surfaces of these anion-amino acid clusters and reveal the presence of several overlapping surfaces in the low-energy region for the Br(-)·arginine and NO(3)(-)·arginine systems.     

Infrared spectroscopy of cationized lysine and epsilon-N-methyllysine in the gas phase: effects of alkali-metal ion size and proton affinity on zwitterion stability

The gas-phase structures of protonated and alkali-metal-cationized lysine (Lys) and epsilon-N-methyllysine (Lys(Me)) are investigated using infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectroscopy utilizing light generated by a free electron laser, in conjunction with ab initio calculations. IRMPD spectra of Lys.Li(+) and Lys.Na(+) are similar, but the spectrum for Lys.K(+) is different, indicating that the structure of lysine in these complexes depends on the metal ion size. The carbonyl stretch of a carboxylic acid group is clearly observed in each of these spectra, indicating that lysine is nonzwitterionic in these complexes. A detailed comparison of these spectra to those calculated for candidate low-energy structures indicates that the bonding motif for the metal ion changes from tricoordinated for Li and Na to dicoordinated for K, clearly revealing the increased importance of hydrogen-bonding relative to metal ion solvation with increasing metal ion size. Spectra for Lys(Me).M(+) show that Lys(Me), an analogue of lysine whose side chain contains a secondary amine, is nonzwitterionic with Li and zwitterionic with K and both forms are present for Na. The proton affinity of Lys(Me) is 16 kJ/mol higher than that of Lys; the higher proton affinity of a secondary amine can result in its preferential protonation and stabilization of the zwitterionic form.     

On the question of salt bridges of cationized amino acids in the gas phase: glycine and arginine

The geometrical shapes of the sodiated and cesiated amino acids glycine and arginine were probed in the gas phase by using the ion mobility based ion chromatography method. The data were compared to those obtained for alkali cationized methyl esters and for all the protonated species. Molecular mechanics, semiempirical, and ab initio/density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to generate model structures for comparison with experiment and to determine the relative energies of different structures. For alkali cationized glycine the experimental cross sections agreed with charge solvation structures which were found by calculation to be the most stable forms as well. Both experiment and theory indicated that sodium is solvated by both the amino and the carbonyl groups, while cesium is solvated by one or both oxygen(s) of the carboxyl group. Alkali cationized arginine was found to form a salt bridge structure. The carboxylate group is stabilized by both the charged guanidinium group and the alkali ion. High level (6-311++G7 and DZVP) ab initio/DFT calculations carried out on sodiated and rubidiated N amidinoglycine, which contains a guanidino group and which was used as a model for the larger arginine molecule, indicated that the salt bridge structures are ∼10 kcal/mol more stable than the charge solvation forms for both alkali ions. The structure of protonated arginine, i.e. salt bridge or charge solvation, could not be unambiguously determined.     

Infrared spectroscopy of cationized arginine in the gas phase: direct evidence for the transition from nonzwitterionic to zwitterionic structure

The gas-phase structures of protonated and alkali metal cationized arginine (Arg) and arginine methyl ester (ArgOMe) are investigated with infrared spectroscopy and ab initio calculations. Infrared spectra, measured in the hydrogen-stretch region, provide compelling evidence that arginine changes from its nonzwitterionic to zwitterionic form with increasing metal ion size, with the transition in structure occurring between lithium and sodium. For sodiated arginine, evidence for both forms is obtained from spectral deconvolution, although the zwitterionic form is predominant. Comparisons of the photodissociation spectra with spectra calculated for low-energy candidate structures provide additional insights into the detailed structures of these ions. Arg*Li+, ArgOMe*Li+, and ArgOMe*Na+ exist in nonzwitterionic forms in which the metal ion is tricoordinated with the amino acid, whereas Arg*Na+ and Arg*K+ predominately exist in a zwitterionic form where the protonated side chain donates one hydrogen bond to the N terminus of the amino acid and the metal ion is bicoordinated with the carboxylate group. Arg*H+ and ArgOMe*H+ have protonated side chains that form the same interaction with the N terminus as zwitterionic, alkali metal cationized arginine, yet both are unambiguously determined to be nonzwitterionic. Calculations indicate that for clusters with protonated side chains, structures with two strong hydrogen bonds are lowest in energy, in disagreement with these experimental results. This study provides new detailed structural assignments and interpretations of previously observed fragmentation patterns for these ions.     

A new type of soft vesicle-forming molecule: an amino acid derived guanidiniocarbonyl pyrrole carboxylate zwitterion

The self-assembly of the l-alanine derived zwitterion 3 leads to the formation of soft vesicles in solution even though this surprisingly small molecule does not possess the classical amphiphilic features of other vesicle-forming monomers.     

Monte carlo simulation of water solvent with biomolecules. Glycine and the corresponding zwitterion

Monte Carlo calculations for clusters consisting of 200 water molecules surrounding glycine in the neutral and zwitterionic forms were carried out at 300 K; all the relevant interaction potentials have been obtained by means of quantum–mechanical calculations. Water–water and amino acid–water energies were calculated, and the zwitterion was found to be strongly favored with respect to the neutral molecule, as expected. A detailed analysis of the energetic results yielded some information on the special extension of the solute-induced perturbation. The structural results were found to be in reasonable agreement with predictions that can be obtained by analyzing isoenergy contour maps, calculated for the two-body amino acid–water potential.     

Monte Carlo simulation of water solvent with biomolecules: Serine and the corresponding zwitterion

Monte Carlo simulation results are reported for clusters consisting of 250 water molecules surrounding serine, both in the neutral form and in two zwitterionic conformers (in order to gain some insight into conformational effects). Calculations were carried out at 300 K and using two-body potentials obtained by means of quantum-mechanical calculations. The spatial dependence of the average interaction energies was investigated. The solvation structure was investigated by means of radial distribution functions and probability density maps, which showed a few water molecules directly solvating the hydrophilic groups and, beyond them, a more or less rich and complex hydrogen-bonded network of solvent molecules.     

Classical interaction model for the water molecule

The authors propose a new classical model for the water molecule. The geometry of the molecule is built on the rigid TIP5P model and has the experimental gas phase dipole moment of water created by four equal point charges. The model preserves its rigidity but the size of the charges increases or decreases following the electric field created by the rest of the molecules. The polarization is expressed by an electric field dependent nonlinear polarization function. The increasing dipole of the molecule slightly increases the size of the water molecule expressed by the oxygen-centered sigma parameter of the Lennard-Jones interaction. After refining the adjustable parameters, the authors performed Monte Carlo simulations to check the ability of the new model in the ice, liquid, and gas phases. They determined the density and internal energy of several ice polymorphs, liquid water, and gaseous water and calculated the heat capacity, the isothermal compressibility, the isobar heat expansion coefficients, and the dielectric constant of ambient water. They also determined the pair-correlation functions of ambient water and calculated the energy of the water dimer. The accuracy of theirs results was satisfactory.     

The electron density of the water molecule

The electron density of the water molecule, as calculated by a standard program, is approximated by linear combinations of spherical Gaussians. The accuracy of the result is studied as a function of the numbers and positions of the Gaussians. Since this shows where the charge is located in the molecule it has immediate physical significance. The building-up of the density can be followed in more and more detail. From these expansions, point charge models of water are readily deduced. These are compared with models of similar kinds used by other authors. Some of the calculations have been repeated with a wavefunction of higher accuracy to investigate the stability of the results. Results show that the more accurate density requires more Gaussians to represent its greater complexity.     

Proton magnetic shielding in the water molecule

The variation-perturbation uncoupled Hartree-Fock procedure of Karplus and Kolker is employed for the calculation of the second-order properties of the water molecule. The SCF MO LCGO ground state wave function was chosen and the first-order perturbed orbitals were approximated in the multiplicative form. The convergence of the method as well as the violation of the gauge independence are studied. For the preferred gauge origin at the electronic centroid the calculated proton shielding constant is 28.30 ppm and compares favourably with the experimental data (30.20, 30.03 ±0.60 ppm).The results for the magnetic susceptibility of the water molecule are also in reasonable agreement with experimental values.

---

Zusammenfassung Die ungekoppelte Hartree-Fock Variationsstörungsrechnung von Karplus u. Kolker wird für die Berechnung von Eigenschaften 2. Ordnung des Wassermoleküls verwendet. Für die Berechnung wird die SCF MO SCGO-Wellenfunktion des Grundzustandes gewählt, und die gestörten Orbitale 1. Ordnung werden in der multiplikativen Form approximiert. Die Konvergenz der Methode und die Frage, ob die Eichinvarianz verletzt wird, werden untersucht. Für den gewählten Potential-Nullpunkt im Zentrum der negativen Ladungsverteilung beträgt die errechnete Protonenabschirmungskonstante 28,30 ppm in guter Übereinstimmung mit den experimentellen Werten (30.20, 30.03 + 0.60 ppm). Die Ergebnisse für die magnetische Suszeptibilität des Wassermoleküls sind gleichfalls in vernünftiger Übereinstimmung mit dem Experiment.

     

On equilibrium structures of the water molecule

Equilibrium structures are fundamental entities in molecular sciences. They can be inferred from experimental data by complicated inverse procedures which often rely on several assumptions, including the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Theory provides a direct route to equilibrium geometries. A recent high-quality ab initio semiglobal adiabatic potential-energy surface (PES) of the electronic ground state of water, reported by Polyansky et al. [ ibid. 299, 539 (2003)] and called CVRQD here, is analyzed in this respect. The equilibrium geometries resulting from this direct route are deemed to be of higher accuracy than those that can be determined by analyzing experimental data. Detailed investigation of the effect of the breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation suggests that the concept of an isotope-independent equilibrium structure holds to about 3 x 10(-5) A and 0.02 degrees for water. The mass-independent [Born-Oppenheimer (BO)] equilibrium bond length and bond angle on the ground electronic state PES of water is r(e) (BO)=0.957 82 A and theta e (BO)=104.48(5) degrees , respectively. The related mass-dependent (adiabatic) equilibrium bond length and bond angle of H2 (16)O is r(e) (ad)=0.957 85 A and theta e (ad)=104.50(0) degrees , respectively, while those of D2 (16)O are r(e) (ad)=0.957 83 A and theta e (ad)=104.49(0) degrees . Pure ab initio prediction of J=1 and 2 rotational levels on the vibrational ground state by the CVRQD PESs is accurate to better than 0.002 cm(-1) for all isotopologs of water considered. Elaborate adjustment of the CVRQD PESs to reproduce all observed rovibrational transitions to better than 0.05 cm(-1) (or the lower ones to better than 0.0035 cm(-1)) does not result in noticeable changes in the adiabatic equilibrium structure parameters. The expectation values of the ground vibrational state rotational constants of the water isotopologs, computed in the Eckart frame using the CVRQD PESs and atomic masses, deviate from the experimentally measured ones only marginally, especially for A0 and B0. The small residual deviations in the effective rotational constants are due to centrifugal distortion, electronic, and non-Born-Oppenheimer effects. The spectroscopic (nonadiabatic) equilibrium structural parameters of H2 16O, obtained from experimentally determined A'0 and B'0 rotational constants corrected empirically to obtain equilibrium rotational constants, are r(e) (sp)=0.957 77 A and theta e (sp)=104.48 degrees .     

One molecule per particle method for functionalising nanoparticles

A mean of one biotinylated dextran molecule per particle is conjugated to 15 nm gold nanoparticles, by a process of self-assembly, which depends on the relationship between dextran molecular weight and particle size.     

Time resolved resonance Raman observation of the extreme protonation forms of a radical zwitterion in water

The reactions of the aqueous proton with the zwitterionic p-aminophenoxyl radical in strongly basic to extremely acidic aqueous solutions have been investigated using time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy. The dynamic stability of the different protonation forms of the radical, observed on the microsecond time scale in this work, has been achieved by controlling the proton exchange rate in water. In strongly acidic solutions we observe a rare ring-H+ bonded dication species, a key intermediate in the amine hydrolysis. The neutral p-aminophenoxyl radical undergoes NH2-deprotonation in strongly basic aqueous solutions, which has no analogues in closed-shell amines.     

A transferable classical potential for the water molecule

We developed a new model for the water molecule which contains only three Gaussian charges. Using the gas-phase geometry the dipole moment of the molecule matches, the quadrupole moment closely approximates the experimental values. The negative charge is connected by a harmonic spring to its gas-phase position. The polarized state is identified by the equality of the intermolecular electrostatic force and the spring force acting on the negative charge. In each timestep the instantaneous position of the massless negative charge is determined by iteration. Using the technique of Ewald summation, we derived expressions for the potential energy, the forces, and the pressure for Gaussian charges. The only properties to be fitted are the half-width values of the Gaussian charge distributions and the parameters of the nonelectrostatic repulsion-attraction potential. We determined the properties of gas-phase clusters up to six molecules, the internal energy and density of ambient water and hexagonal ice. We calculated the equilibrium density of ice VII as a function of pressure. As an additional test, we calculated the pair-correlation function, the isotherm compressibility, the heat capacity, and the self-diffusion coefficients for ambient water. As far as we know, this is the first classical model of water which is able to estimate both ends of the phase diagram, the high pressure ice VII, and the gas clusters of water with excellent accuracy.     

Binding energies of water to doubly hydrated cationized glutamine and structural analogues in the gas phase

The modes of metal-ion and water binding in doubly hydrated complexes of lithiated and sodiated glutamine (Gln) are probed using blackbody infrared radiative dissociation experiments and density functional theory calculations. Threshold dissociation energies, E0, for loss of a water molecule from these complexes are obtained from master-equation modeling of these data. The values of E0 are 36 +/- 1 and 38 +/- 2 kJ/mol for the lithiated and sodiated glutamine complexes, respectively, and are consistent with calculated water binding energies for the nonzwitterionic form of these complexes. Calculated water binding energies for the zwitterionic forms of these complexes are significantly higher. In contrast, calculations indicate that the zwitterionic form of Gln in these complexes is more stable than the nonzwitterionic form by 8 and 15 kJ/mol when lithiated and sodiated, respectively. Doubly hydrated lithiated and sodiated complexes of asparagine methyl ester (AsnOMe), asparagine ethyl ester (AsnOEt), and glutamine methyl ester (GlnOMe) were also studied for comparison to Gln. Although these clusters lack the acidic group of Gln and therefore have different water coordination behavior, these results further support the conclusion that Gln is nonzwitterionic in these clusters. Surprisingly, the complexes containing sodium are more stable than those containing lithium, a result that is attributed to subtle differences in how these two metal ions bind to the amino acid esters in these complexes.     

Structures and isomerization of neutral and zwitterion serine–water clusters: Computational study

Calculations are presented for the structure and the isomerization reaction of various conformers of the bare serine, neutral serine–(H₂O)_n and serine zwitterion–(H₂O)_n (n = 1, 2) clusters. The effects of binding water molecules on the relative stability and the isomerization processes are examined. Hydrogen bonding between serine and the water molecule(s) may significantly affect the relative stability of conformers of the neutral serine–(H₂O)_n (n = 1, 2) clusters. The sidechain (OH group) in serine is found to have a profound effect on the structure and isomerization of serine–(H₂O)_n (n = 1, 2) clusters. Conformers with the hydrogen bonding between water and the hydroxyl group of serine are predicted. A detailed analysis is presented of the isomerization (proton transfer) pathways between the neutral serine–(H₂O)₂ and serine zwitterion–(H₂O)₂ clusters by carrying out the intrinsic reaction coordinate analysis. At least two water molecules need to bind to produce the stable serine zwitterion–water cluster in the gas phase. The isomerization for the serine–(H₂O)₂ cluster proceeds by the concerted double and triple proton transfer mechanism occurring via the binding water molecules, or via the hydroxyl group. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005     

A GRID-derived water network stabilizes molecular dynamics computer simulations of a protease

Structural water molecules are crucial for the stability and function of proteins. Recently, we presented a molecular dynamics (MD) study on blood coagulation factor Xa (fXa) to investigate the effect of water molecules on the flexibility of the protein structure. We showed that neglecting important water positions at the outset of the simulation leads to severe structural distortions during the MD simulations: A stable trajectory was obtained with a water set that was derived from all 73 X-ray structures of the protein. However, for many proteins of interest, only limited structural data is available, which precludes the merging of information from many X-ray structures. Here, we show that an in silico assembled water network, derived from molecular interaction fields generated with the GRID program, is a viable alternative to X-ray data. MD simulations with the GRID water set show a significantly improved stability over alternative setups without water or the X-ray resolved water molecules in the starting structure. The performance is comparable to a water setup derived from a recently presented clustering approach.