Structure of isolated tryptophyl-glycine dipeptide and tryptophyl-glycyl-glycine tripeptide: ab initio SCC-DFTB-D molecular dynamics simulations and high-level correlated ab initio quantum chemical calculations.

The tryptophyl-glycine (Trp-Gly) and tryptophyl-glycyl-glycine (Trp-Gly-Gly) peptides have been studied by means of molecular dynamic simulations combined with high-level correlated ab initio quantum chemical and statistical thermodynamic calculations. The lowest energy conformers were localized in the free energy surface. The structures of the different Trp-Gly and Trp-Gly-Gly conformers coexisting in the gas phase have been for the first time reported and their scaled theoretical IR spectra unambiguously assigned and compared with previous gas-phase experimental results. Common geometrical features have been systematically observed for the sequence Trp, Trp-Gly, and Trp-Gly-Gly. In addition, the peptide backbone of Trp-Gly-Gly has been compared with that of the previously studied Phe-Gly-Gly (Reha, D. et. al. Chem. Eur. J. 2005, 11, 6803). From the observed systematic structural behavior between these peptide analogues, it is expected that the gas-phase conformers of other similar aromatic small peptides would present equivalent geometries. The DFT methodology failed to describe the potential energy surface of the studied peptides since the London dispersion energy (not covered in DFT) plays a significant role in the stabilization of most stable conformers.