Experimental and theoretical proton affinities of methionine, methionine sulfoxide and their N- and C-terminal derivatives

The proton affinities of methionine, methionine sulfoxide and their derivatives (methionine methyl ester, methionine sulfoxide methyl ester, methionine methyl amide, methionine sulfoxide methyl amide, N-acetyl methionine, N-acetyl methionine sulfoxide, N-acetyl methionine methyl ester, N-acetyl methionine sulfoxide methyl ester, N-acetyl methionine methyl amide and N-acetyl methionine sulfoxide methyl amide) were experimentally determined using the kinetic method, in which proton bound dimers formed via electrospray ionization (ESI) were subjected to collision induced dissociation (CID) in a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. In addition, theoretical calculations carried out at the MP2/6-311 + G(2d,p)//B3LYP/6-31 + G(d,p) level of theory to determine the global minima of the neutral and protonated species of all derivatives studied, were used to predict theoretical proton affinities. The density function theory calculations not only support the experimental proton affinities, but also provide structural insights into the types of hydrogen bonding that stabilize the neutral and protonated methionine or methionine sulfoxide derivatives. Comparison of the proton affinities of the various methionine and methionine sulfoxide derivatives reveals that: (i) oxidation of methionine derivatives to methionine sulfoxide derivatives results in an increase in proton affinity due to higher intrinsic proton affinity and an increase in the ring size formed through charge complexation of the sulfoxide group, which allows more efficient hydrogen bonding compared to the sulfide group; (ii) C-terminal modification by methyl esterification or methyl amidation increases the proton affinity in the order of methyl amide > methyl ester > carboxylic acid due to improved charge stabilization; (iii) N-terminal modification by N-acetylation decreases proton affinity of the derivatives due to lower intrinsic proton affinity of the N-acetyl group as well as due to stabilization of the attached proton by only one functional group (instead of two functional groups in derivatives containing a free amino group); and (iv) a combination of the above methionine modifications is observed to affect the proton affinity in an additive way. While a number of factors might contribute to discrepancies between the theoretical and experimental proton affinities, a key factor may be that the global minimum of the neutral species is further stabilized by strong intramolecular hydrogen bonding, and this particular conformer may not be sampled during dissociation of the proton bound dimer.