Mechanisms of peptide fragmentation from time- and energy-resolved surface-induced dissociation studies: Dissociation of angiotensin analogs

Energetics and mechanism of dissociation of singly protonated angiotensin III (RVYIHPF) and its analogs RVYIFPF, RVYIYPF, RVYIHAF and RVYIHDF was studied using surface-induced dissociation (SID) in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FT-ICR MS) specially configured for studying ion activation by collisions with surfaces. The energetics and dynamics of peptide fragmentation were deduced by modeling the time- and energy-resolved survival curves for each precursor ion using an RRKM-based approach developed in our laboratory. Fragmentation mechanisms were inferred from comparison of time- and energy-resolved fragmentation efficiency curves (TFECs) of different fragment ions followed by RRKM modeling of dissociation of angiotensin III into six major families of fragment ions. Detailed modeling demonstrated that dissociation of these peptides is dominated by loss of ammonia from the precursor ion and characterized by a high-energy barrier of 1.6 eV. Loss of NH3 and subsequent rearrangement of the MH+-NH3 ion results in proton mobilization and release of ca. 30 kcal/mol into internal excitation of the MH+-NH3 ion. The resulting highly excited ion accesses a variety of non-specific dissociation pathways with very high rate constants. Fast fragmentation of excited MH+-NH3 ion forms a variety of abundant bn-NH3 and an-NH3 fragment ions. Abundant XH and HX internal fragments are also formed, reflecting the stability of histidine-containing diketopiperazine structures.