Structure Determination of Zinc and Cadmium Dication Complexes with Intact and Deprotonated Histidyl Glycine and Glycyl Histidine Dipeptides

Metalated intact and deprotonated histidyl glycine and glycyl histidine dipeptides were investigated in the gas phase by using infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectroscopy with light from a free-electron laser (FEL). The dipeptides M2+(GlyHis), M2+(HisGly), [M­(GlyHis-H)]+, and [M­(HisGly-H)]+, where M = Zn and Cd, were probed to elucidate how the His position along the peptide chain and ligand charge state might influence the structures observed in the gas phase. Simulated annealing calculations were performed to determine energetically low-lying conformers and isomers of these structures. Quantum chemical calculations were used to optimize the structures at the B3LYP level of theory using the 6-311+G­(d,p) and def2-TZVP basis sets for zinc and cadmium complexes, respectively. IRMPD and calculated linear absorption spectra were compared to evaluate which structures are present. Relative energies of the various species were evaluated using single-point energy calculations for low-lying structures at the B3LYP, B3LYP-GD3BJ, ωB97XD, and MP2­(full) levels using the 6-311+G­(2d,2p) and def2-TZVPP basis sets. For all species, structures for both metals mirror each other, and those that reproduce the experimental spectrum were determined to be iminol structures for the intact ligands or iminol-like structures for the deprotonated ligands. Additionally, when the spectra of the deprotonated dipeptides are compared to the intact dipeptides, the change in the spectra is correlated to the group that is deprotonated.