A mechanistic study of the H/D exchange reactions of protonated arginine and arginine-containing di- and tripeptides.

The gas-phase H/D exchange reactions of arginine (R) and arginine-containing di- and tri-peptide (gly-arg (GR), arg-gly (RG), gly-gly-arg (GGR), gly-arg-gly (GRG) and arg-gly-gly (RGG)) [M + H]+ ions with deuterated ammonia (ND3) were investigated by using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR), ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS), ab initio and density functional theory-based molecular orbital calculations and molecular modeling. Three exchanges are observed for arginine and arginine-containing tri-peptide [M + H]+ ions, whereas the di-peptide [M + H]+ ions undergo a single H/D exchange. In addition, C-terminal methylation blocks H/D exchange of arginine and the arginine-containing peptide [M + H]+ ions, and a single H/D exchange is observed for N-terminal acetylated arginine [M + H]+ ions. A general mechanism for H/D exchange involving a collision complex that is best described as a "solvated salt-bridge" structure is proposed.