Nature of Amide Carbonyl−Carbonyl Interactions in Proteins

Noncovalent interactions define and modulate biomolecular structure, function, and dynamics. In many protein secondary structures, an intimate interaction exists between adjacent carbonyl groups of the main-chain amide bonds. As this short contact contributes to the energetics of protein conformational stability as well as protein−ligand interactions, understanding its nature is crucial. The intimacy of the carbonyl groups could arise from a charge−charge or dipole−dipole interaction, or n→π * electronic delocalization. This last putative origin, which is reminiscent of the Bürgi−Dunitz trajectory, involves delocalization of the lone pairs (n) of the oxygen (O i−1) of a peptide bond over the antibonding orbital (π*) of the carbonyl group (C i O i ) of the subsequent peptide bond. By installing isosteric chemical substituents in a peptidic model system and using NMR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and ab initio calculations to analyze the consequences, the intimate interaction between adjacent carbonyl groups is shown to arise primarily from n→π* electronic delocalization. This finding has implications for organic, biological, and medicinal chemistry.