Transition metal complex cations as reagents for gas-phase transformation of multiply deprotonated polypeptides.

Triply deprotonated DGAILDGAILD was reacted in the gas-phase with doubly charged copper, cobalt, and iron metal complexes containing either two or three phenanthroline ligands. Reaction products result from two major pathways. The first pathway involves the transfer of an electron from the negatively charged peptide to the transition-metal complex. The other major pathway consists of the displacement of the phenanthroline ligands by the peptide resulting in the incorporation of the transition-metal into the peptide to form [M - 3H + X(II)](-) ions, where X is Cu, Co, or Fe, respectively. The extent to which each pathway contributes is dependent on the nature of transition-metal complex. In general, bis-phen complexes result in more electron-transfer than the tris-phen complexes, while the tris-phen complexes result in more metal insertion. The metal in the complex plays a large role as well, with the Cu containing complexes giving rise to more electron transfer than the corresponding complexes of Co and Fe. The results show that a single reagent solution can be used to achieve two distinct sets of products (i.e., electron-transfer products and metal insertion products). These results constitute the demonstration of novel means for the gas-phase transformation of peptide anions from one ion type to another via ion/ion reactions using reagents formed via electrospray ionization.