The solvent dependent shift of the amide I band of a fully solvated peptide in methanol/water mixtures as a local probe for the solvent composition in the peptide/solvent interface
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
We determine the shift and line-shape of the amide I band of a model AK-peptide from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the peptide dissolved in methanol/water mixtures with varying composition. The IR-spectra are determined from a transition dipole coupling exciton model. A simplified empirical model Hamiltonian is employed, taking both the effect of hydrogen bonding, as well as intramolecular vibrational coupling into account. We consider a single isolated AK-peptide in a mostly helical conformation, while the solvent is represented by 2600 methanol or water molecules, simulated for a pressure of 1 bar and a temperature of 300 K. Over the course of the simulations minor reversible conformational changes at the termini are observed, which are found to only slightly affect the calculated spectral properties. Over the entire composition range, varying from pure water to the pure methanol solvent, a monotonous blue-shift of the IR amide I band of about 8 wavenumbers is observed. The shift is found to be caused by two counter-compensating effects: An intramolecular red-shift of about 1.2 wavenumbers, due to stronger intramolecular hydrogen-bonding in a methanol-rich environment. Dominating, however, is the intermolecular solvent-dependent blue-shift of about 10 wavenumbers, being attributed to the less effective hydrogen bond donor capabilities of methanol compared to water. The importance of solvent-contribution to the IR-shift, as well as the significantly different hydrogen formation capabilities of water and methanol make the amide I band sensitive to composition changes in the local environment close the peptide/solvent interface. This allows, in principle, an experimental determination of the composition of the solvent in close proximity to the peptide surface. For the AK-peptide case they observe at low methanol concentrations a significantly enhanced methanol concentration at the peptide/solvent-interface, supposedly promoted by the partially hydrophobic character of the AK-peptide's solvent accessible surface.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 962254
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-08-05626; LA-UR-08-5626; CPCHFT; TRN: US200919%%22
- Journal Information:
- ChemPhysChem, Vol. 9, Issue 18; ISSN 1439-4235
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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