The jet-cooled rotational spectrum of neutral alanine has been studied using laser-ablation molecular-beam Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy (LA-MB-FTMW). The spectra of the two most stable forms were observed in the frequency range 6-18 GHz for the parent, (15)N alanine, three single (13)C species, and four single D species. The (14)N nuclear quadrupole coupling hyperfine structures have been resolved, and their comparison with those calculated theoretically confirms unambiguously the conformer assignments. The independent structures of both conformers have been determined experimentally for the first time using r(s) and r(0) procedures. In both cases, the amino acid backbone is nonplanar. For the most stable conformer I, the COOH group adopts a cis configuration and an asymmetric bifurcated hydrogen bond is formed between the amino group and carbonyl oxygen (r(N-H(a)...O=C) = 2.70(2) A and r(N-H(b)...O=C) = 2.88(2) A). For conformer IIa, the COOH group adopts a trans configuration and is stabilized by a O-H...N hydrogen bond (r(O-H...N) = 1.96(2) A). The relative conformer abundances in the supersonic expansion have also been investigated.

Rotational spectroscopy in combination with molecular beams and laser ablation (laser-ablation molecular-beam Fourier transform microwave (LA-MB-FTMW) spectroscopy) has proved to be successful in characterizing the conformers of natural amino acids. The procedure usually followed to assign and identify the different conformers of an amino acid from the rotational spectrum is described through the study of the natural amino acid L-threonine. The solid sample of L-threonine was vaporized by laser pulses, diluted in Ne and supersonically expanded between the mirrors of a Fabry-Pérot resonator where it was spectroscopically probed by microwave radiation. The rotational and nuclear quadrupole coupling constants extracted from the analysis of the rotational spectrum are directly compared with those predicted by ab initio methods to achieve the conclusive identification of seven different conformers. A complex hydrogen bonding network arises as a consequence of the polar side chain of threonine.

Microsolvated formamide clusters have been generated in a supersonic jet expansion and characterized using Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. Three conformers of the monohydrated cluster and one of the dihydrated complex have been observed. Seven monosubstituted isotopic species have been measured for the most stable conformer of formamide...H(2)O, which adopts a closed planar ring structure stabilized by two intermolecular hydrogen bonds (N-H...O(H)-H...O=C). The two higher energy forms of formamide...H(2)O have been observed for the first time. The second most stable conformer is stabilized by a O-H...O=C and a weak C-H...O hydrogen bond, while, in the less stable form, water accepts a hydrogen bond from the anti hydrogen of the amino group. For formamide...(H(2)O)(2), the parent and nine monosubstituted isotopic species have been observed. In this cluster the two water molecules close a cycle with the amide group through three intermolecular hydrogen bonds (N-H...O(H)-H...O(H)-H...O=C), the nonbonded hydrogen atoms of water adopting an up-down configuration. Substitution (r(s)) and effective (r(0)) structures have been determined for formamide, the most stable form of formamide...H(2)O and formamide...(H(2)O)(2). The results on monohydrated formamide clusters can help to explain the observed preferences of bound water in proteins. Clear evidence of sigma-bond cooperativity effects emerges when comparing the structures of the mono- and dihydrated formamide clusters. No detectable structural changes due to pi-bond cooperativity are observed on formamide upon hydration.

We explored the conformational landscape of the proteinogenic amino acid serine [CH2OHOCH(NH2)OCOOH] in the gas phase. Solid serine was vaporized by laser ablation, expanded in a supersonic jet, and characterized by Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. In the isolation conditions of the jet there have been discovered up to seven different neutral (non-zwitterionic) structures of serine, which are conclusively identified by the comparison between the experimental values of the rotational and quadrupole coupling constants with those predicted by ab initio calculations. These seven forms can serve as a basis to represent the shape of serine in the gas phase. From the postexpansion abundances we derived the conformational stability trend, which is controlled by the subtle network of intramolecular hydrogen bonds formed between the polar groups in the amino acid backbone and the hydroxy side chain. It is proposed that conformational cooling perturbs the equilibrium conformational distribution; thus, some of the lower-energy forms are ''missing'' in the supersonic expansion.amino acids ͉ conformations ͉ laser ablation ͉ microwave spectroscopy ͉ supersonic expansion A mino acids are distinguished by an outstanding conformational flexibility originating from multiple torsional degrees of freedom, which makes folding and functionality of proteins possible (1). Whereas covalent forces determine the molecular skeleton, conformational isomerism is controlled by weaker nonbonded interactions within the molecule, especially hydrogen bonding. Amino acids are also very sensitive to the chemical medium chosen for their study. In traditional studies in the condensed phase, the extensive intermolecular hydrogen bond interactions fix amino acids as doubly charged zwitterions (2, 3), wiping out the conformational variety of these molecules. The intrinsic structural preferences of amino acids can be revealed only when they are studied as free species in the gas phase, where neutral forms (present in polypeptide chains) are the most stable in detriment of ionic or zwitterionic forms. Levy and coworkers (4) were the first to measure highly resolved electronic spectra of amino acids in the gas phase by seeding tryptophan in a supersonic expansion. Since then, different experimental methods have been used to investigate the electronic spectrum of amino acids and a variety of biological molecules in the gas phase (5-7). The electronic spectrum is interpreted with the help of theoretical calculations to identify different conformations with a high degree of confidence. However, the use of electronic spectroscopy is limited to favorable cases that present aromatic chromophores. Only three of the 20 natural amino acids have aromatic side chains that meet this criterion: phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan (4,(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14).Microwave spectroscopy, often considered the most definitive gas-phase structural probe, can distinguish unambiguously between different conformational structures and provide accurate structural inform...

Nowadays there is growing interest in the study of biomolecules under isolation conditions in the gas phase. Although the gas phase represents far from in situ conditions of the condensed medium in which biological reactions take place, important intramolecular properties of bare molecules are manipulated by the environment and it is difficult to distinguish in condensed phases which properties are intrinsically intramolecular.[1] Solid amino acids exhibit a bipolar zwitterionic structure [2] () far from that of the neutral structure present in the polypeptide chain as a result of intermolecular interactions. Therefore, the investigation of the neutral structure of amino acids must be conducted in the gas phase. The problem arises from the fact that most amino acids have high melting points and extremely low vapor pressures and quickly decompose under the classical heating methods of vaporization. Thus, only a limited number of studies on amino acids have been carried out in the gas phase.[1a-b] Relevant structural aspects concerning these building blocks of life are as yet unknown.The amino acids have many possible degrees of freedom which result in a corrugated potential energy surface with many conformational minima, and the population can be spread over more than one minimum. Their conformational preferences are controlled by a delicate balance between the covalent forces and the noncovalent interactions, mainly intramolecular hydrogen bonding. The use of the collisionless environment of a supersonic jet expansion [3] constituted a major step forward in the isolation and detection of the existing conformers in the gas phase. The supersonic cooling quenches the population into the zero-point levels of each of the individual conformers if the potential-energy barriers separating them are sufficiently high. Thus, although the molecules are rotationally and vibrationally cooled, their conformational distribution is not necessarily so. Hence, conformers can be independently detected in the supersonic expansion and their individual structures can be obtained.

The oxirane-trifluoromethane dimer generated in a supersonic expansion has been characterized by Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. The rotational spectra of the parent species and of its two (13)C isotopomers in combination with ab initio calculations have been used to establish a C(s)() geometry for the dimer with the two monomers bound by one C-H.O and two C-H.F-C hydrogen bonds. An overall bonding energy of about 6.7 kJ/mol has been derived from the centrifugal distortion analysis. The lengths of the C-H.O and C-H.F hydrogen bonds, r(O.H) and r(F.H), are 2.37 and 2.68 A, respectively. The C-H.F-C interactions give rise to the HCF(3) internal rotation motion barrier of 0.55(1) kJ/mol, which causes the A-E splittings observed in the rotational spectra. The analysis of the structural and energetic features of the C-H.O and C-H.F-C interactions allows us to classify them as weak hydrogen bonds. Ab initio calculations predict these weak interactions to produce blue shifts in the C-H vibrational frequencies and shortenings of the C-H lengths.

An intramolecular hydrogen bond of the type OH⋅⋅⋅N is present in both conformers of proline (see picture) that were observed in the gas phase using laser‐ablation molecular‐beam Fourier‐transform microwave spectroscopy.

The conformational behaviour of isolated D-glucose has been revealed in this work using Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy coupled with laser ablation of crystalline aand b-glucopyranose samples. Four conformers of a-D-glucopyranose and three of b-D-glucopyranose have been unequivocally identified on the basis of the spectroscopic rotational parameters in conjunction with ab initio predictions. Stereoelectronic hyperconjugative factors, like those associated with anomeric or gauche effects, as well as the cooperative OH/O chains extended along the entire molecule, are the main factors driving the conformational behaviour. The most abundant conformers exhibit a counter-clockwise arrangement (cc) of the network of intramolecular hydrogen bonds.