title: Helix-helix interconversion rates of short 13C-labeled helical peptides as measured by dynamic NMR spectroscopy.
abstract: The rates at which a peptide hexamer and a peptide octamer interconvert between left- and right-handed helical forms in CD2Cl2 solution have been characterized by 13C dynamic NMR (DNMR) spectroscopy. The peptide esters studied are Fmoc-(Aib)n-OtBu (n = 6 and 8), where Fmoc is 9-fluorenylmethyoxycarbonyl and Aib is the strongly helix-forming residue alpha-aminoisobutyric acid. Because the Aib residue is itself achiral, homooligomers of this residue form a 50/50 mixture of enantiomeric 3(10)-helices in solution. It has been demonstrated (R.-P. Hummel, C. Toniolo, and G. Jung, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 1987, Vol. 26, pp. 1150-1152) that oligomers of Aib interconvert on the millisecond timescale. We have performed lineshape analysis of 13C-NMR spectra collected for our peptides enriched with 13C at a single residue. Rate constants for the octamer range from 6 s(-1) at 196 K to about 56,500 s(-1) at 320 K. At all temperatures, the hexamer interconverts about three times faster than the octamer. Eyring plots of the data reveal experimentally indistinguishable DeltaH++ values for the hexamer and octamer of 37.8 +/- 0.6 and 37.6 +/- 0.4 kJ mol(-1) respectively. The difference in the rates of interconversion is dictated by entropic factors. The hexamer and octamer exhibit negative DeltaS++ values of -29.0(-1) +/- 2.5 and -37.3 +/- 1.7 J K(-1) mol(-1), respectively. A mechanism for the helix-helix interconversion is proposed. and calculated DeltaG++ values are compared to the estimate for a decamer undergoing a helix-helix interconversion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT 06824, USA. mkubasik@mail.fairfield.edu
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubasik
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kotz
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Szabo
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furlong
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stace
mesh_terms: D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D010455:Peptides