Gas-phase spectroscopy and anharmonic vibrational analysis of the 3-residue peptide Z-Pro-Leu-Gly-NH2 by the laser desorption supersonic jet technique

Abstract

The electronic excitation and infrared (IR) spectra of a capped tri-peptide, Z-PLG-NH2 (Z = benzyloxycarbonyl, P = Pro, L = Leu, G = Gly), were measured in the gas phase by using the laser desorption supersonic jet technique. By measuring an ultraviolet–ultraviolet hole burning spectrum, it was found that Z-PLG-NH2 has the maximum three conformers in the gas phase, but that the population is mainly distributed to a single conformation. Molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory calculations well-reproduced the observed IR spectrum, except for splitting of the NH stretching bands by a β-turn structure that corresponds to a global minimum structure. Anharmonic vibrational analysis by vibrational quasi-degenerate perturbation theory (VQDPT) successfully reproduced the anharmonic splitting, and confirmed the assignments.