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The conformational structures of tryptophan, isolated in the gas phase, have been assigned by combining the results of ultraviolet hole-burning and infrared ion dip spectroscopy with the predictions of ab initio calculations conducted at the MP2/6-311]G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31]G(d) levels of theory. As in phenylalanine, the most strongly populated, and lowest energy conformer presents a folded alanyl side chain that is stabilised by a " daisy chain Ï of hydrogen-bonded interactions. These link the acidic proton, the amino group and the indole ring. There is a further interaction between the carbonyl oxygen and the neighbouring CH group on the pyrrole ring. A quantitative evaluation of the dipoleÈdipole interactions between the alanyl side chain and the indole ring in the and electronic states does not support the suggestion of electronic state mixing. In 1L a 1L b particular it casts doubt on the assignment of the Ñuorescence of the most stable, " special Ï conformer to emission from the state.

Laser-induced fluorescence and one- and two-color, mass- selected R2PI excitation spectra of the S1 ← S0 electronic transitions in 2-phenylethyl alcohol and 2-phenylethylamine have been recorded in a jet-cooled environment. Five conformers of 2-phenylethyl alcohol and four of 2-phenylethylamine have been identified, together with a number of 1:1 hydrated water clusters. The fifth origin band in the excitation spectrum of 2-phenylethylamine has been reassigned to a water cluster, primarily on the basis of its ion fragmentation pattern. Analysis of their partially resolved rotational band contours has been aided by ab initio molecular orbital calculations, conducted at levels of theory ranging from MP2/3-21G* to MP2/6-311G** for the ground state and CIS/6-311G** for the first electronically excited singlet state. The reliability of the CIS method has also been tested through benchmark calculations, including computations on a related, experimentally known conformational system, methyl 3-hydroxybenzoate. 2-Phenylethylamine and 2-phenylethyl alcohol both display anti and gauche conformations (distinguished by their orientation about the Cα−Cβ bond) but the folded, gauche conformations, which allow the terminal hydroxyl or amino hydrogen atoms to be hydrogen bonded to the aromatic ring, are found to be the most stable. Their intramolecular binding energies are ∼5.5 kJ mol-1. The anti conformers display b-type rotational band contours, reflecting the 1Lb character of their first excited singlet states. In contrast, the band contours of the gauche conformers display a hybrid character, which reflects a strong rotation of the electronic transition moment in the molecular frame, attributed to electronic state mixing. The rotation of the transition moment is strongly modulated by the binding of a water molecule to the folded molecular conformer and, in the bare molecule, by changes in the orientation of the terminal hydroxyl or amino group. This effect allows a ready distinction to be made between the hydrogen-bonded and the non- hydrogen-bonded gauche conformers.

The conformational landscapes of 2-amino-1-phenylethanol and its 1:1 water complexes have been investigated by UV band contour, UV−UV hole-burning, and IR−UV ion dip spectroscopy, coupled with ab initio computation. The two molecular conformers observed are both stabilized by an intramolecular hydrogen bond, located in the folded (gauche) OCCN side chain, which links the proton donor OH group to the terminal amino group and leads to a significant constriction of the side chain. In the dominant 1:1 water complex, the intramolecular hydrogen bond is disrupted by the first water molecule, which inserts between the OH group and the nitrogen atom, to form a cyclic H-bonded structure. The side chain expands significantly in order to accommodate the water molecule within the neighborhood of both the hydroxyl and amino groups.

The amide, N-phenyl formamide (formanilide), and its water clusters have been studied in a jet expansion using laser-induced fluorescence excitation and mass-selected, resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) techniques. The isomer with a trans configuration of the amide group (defined in Figure ) is identified through analysis of the partially resolved contour of its S1 ← S0 band origin. Ion-dip “hole-burn” spectra of the nonplanar cis isomer contain either symmetric or antisymmetric components of low-frequency progressions, providing evidence of a double-minimum ground state potential. Excited-state vibrations at 76 and 152 cm-1, which are strongly Franck−Condon active, show evidence of Duschinski mixing of the ground-state modes including Cring−N torsion. Water clusters have been observed for trans-formanilide only:  two distinct 1:1 hydrates, two 1:2 hydrates, and a complex with at least four bound water molecules. (The cis isomer is also expected to form extremely stable complexes with water, but none have been detected experimentally in the present study.) The observed clusters are assigned using spectroscopic data, including band contours, to structural alternatives computed ab initio at the HF/6-31G* level. The 1:1 hydrates are assigned to a cluster in which water binds at the NH site and one in which water binds at the HCO site. In the 1:2 clusters, the addition of a further water molecule to each of the 1:1 clusters results in cyclic hydrogen-bonded structures, with the water dimer bridging between proton donor and proton acceptor sites of the host. The interactions are HCO···HOH and OCH···OH2 in one case and NH···OH2 and πring···HOH in the other. At the MP2/6-31G*//HF/6-31G* level, these structures are ca. 10 kJ mol-1 more stable than the nearest competitor, in part because of cooperative effects. The R2PI spectrum of the NH bound 1:2 cluster “C” is very similar to that of the indole(H2O)2 complex assigned by Zwier and co-workers. Its origin is red-shifted 482 cm-1 from trans-formanilide, and the electronic transition excites long intermingled vibrational progressions with frequencies of 29, 38, and 51 cm-1.

The anomeric effect is a chemical phenomenon that refers to an observed stabilization of six-membered carbohydrate rings when they contain an electronegative substituent at the C1 position of the ring. This stereoelectronic effect influences the three-dimensional shapes of many biological molecules. It can be manifested not only in this classical manner involving interaction of the endocyclic oxygen atom (O5) found in such sugars with the C1 substituent (endo-anomeric effect) but also through a corresponding interaction of the electronegative exocyclic substituent with O5 (exo-anomeric effect). However, the underlying physical origin(s) of this phenomenon is still not clear. Here we show, using a combination of laser spectroscopy and computational analysis, that a truncated peptide motif can engage the two anomers of an isolated sugar in the gas phase, an environment lacking extraneous factors which could confound the analysis. (Anomers are isomers that differ in the orientation of the substituent at C1.) Complexes formed between the peptide and the α- or β-anomers of d-galactose are nearly identical structurally; however, the strength of the polarization of their interactions with the peptide differs greatly. Natural bond order calculations support this observation, and together they reveal the dominance of the exo- over the endo-anomeric effect. As interactions between oxygen atoms at positions C1 and C2 (O1 and O2, respectively) on the pyranose ring can alter the exo/endo ratio of a carbohydrate, our results suggest that it will be important to re-evaluate the influence, and biological effects, of substituents at position C2 in sugars.

The conformational preferences of the diastereomeric neurotransmitters (1R2S) ephedrine and (1S2S) pseudoephedrine have been studied in the gas phase, under free jet-expansion conditions, using ultraviolet spectroscopy (both R2PI and LIF) and infrared ion-dip and hole-burning spectroscopy in combination with ab initio calculation. This has led to the identification and assignment of two conformers in ephedrine and four in pseudoephedrine. Assignments have been made by comparing their experimental infrared and LIF spectra with ab initio vibrational frequencies and ultraviolet rotational band contours. The relative stabilities of the conformers are controlled by a delicate balance between intramolecular hydrogen bonding and dispersive interactions between the methyl groups of the side chain, both with each other and with the aromatic ring. The relative conformational stabilities calculated for ephedrine do not agree with the experimental results; two of its low-lying conformers were detected, but a third, lying at an intermediate energy, was not. The possibility of its collisional relaxation into the global minimum during the supersonic expansion was not supported by the ab initio calculations, which predict a substantial barrier along the minimum energy pathway. It is possible that the combination of a relatively weak transition moment and a lack of facile pathways for relaxation from higher lying structures into the “missing” conformer may play a role.