title: Fragmentation of protonated oligoalanines: amide bond cleavage and beyond.
abstract: The fragmentation reactions of the singly-protonated oligoalanines trialanine to hexaalanine have been studied using energy-resolved mass spectrometry in MS(2) and MS(3) experiments. The primary fragmentation reactions are rationalized in terms of the b(x)-y(z) pathway of amide bond cleavage which results in formation of a proton-bound complex of an oxazolone and a peptide/amino acid; on decomposition of this complex the species of higher proton affinity preferentially retains the proton. For protonated pentaalanine and protonated hexaalanine the major primary fragmentation reaction involves cleavage of the C-terminal amide bond to form the appropriate b ion. The lower mass b ions originate largely, if not completely, by further fragmentation of the initially formed b ion. MS(3) energy-resolved experiments clearly show the fragmentation sequence b(n) --> b(n-1) --> b(n-2). A more minor pathway for the alanines involves the sequence b(n) --> a(n) --> b(n-1) --> b(n-2). The a(5) ion formed from hexaalanine loses, in part, NH(3) to begin the sequence of fragmentation reactions a(5) --> a(5)* --> a(4)* --> a(3)* where a(n)* = a(n) - NH(3). The a(3)* ion also is formed from the b(3) ion by the sequence b(3) --> a(3) --> a(3)* with the final step being sufficiently facile that the a(3) ion is not observed with significant intensity in CID mass spectra. A cyclic structure is proposed for the a(3)* ion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada. aharriso@chem.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Alex G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Alex B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000737:chemistry*; D000577:Amides / Q000737:chemistry*; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D011522:Protons; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000577:Amides; D009842:Oligopeptides; D011522:Protons; D000409:Alanine