title: Structural selection by microsolvation: conformational locking of tryptamine.
abstract: The conformational space of tryptamine has been thoroughly investigated using rotationally resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. Six conformers could be identified on the basis of the inertial parameters of several deuterated isotopomers. Upon attaching a single water molecule, the conformational space collapses into a single conformer. For the hydrogen-bonded water cluster, this conformer is identified unambiguously as tryptamine A. In the complex, the water molecule acts as proton donor with respect to the amino group. An additional interaction with one of the aromatic C-H bonds selectively stabilizes the observed conformer more than all other conformers. Ab initio calculations confirm much larger energy differences between the conformers of the water complex than between those of the monomers.
authors: Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. mschmitt@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Schmitt
authors: Marcel
authors: M
authors: Böhm
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Ratzer
authors: Chau
authors: C
authors: Vu
authors: Ivo
authors: I
authors: Kalkman
authors: W Leo
authors: WL
authors: Meerts
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014363:Tryptamines / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014363:Tryptamines; D014867:Water; C030820:tryptamine