Conformational preferences of γ-aminobutyric acid in the gas phase and in water

The conformational study of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) has been carried out at the M06-2X/cc-pVTZ level of theory in the gas phase and the SMD M06-2X/cc-pVTZ level of theory in water. In the gas phase, the folded conformation gG1 with gauche− and gauche+ conformations for the CβCα and CγCβ bonds, respectively, is found to be lowest in energy and enthalpy, which can be ascribed to the favored hyperconjugative n → π* interaction between the lone electron pair of the amine nitrogen atom and the CO bond of the carboxylic group and the favored antiparallel dipole–dipole interaction between the NH bond and the CO bond. In addition, the intramolecular hydrogen bonds between the carboxylic group and the amine NH group have contributed to stabilize some low-energy conformers. However, the most preferred conformation is found to be tG1 and more stable by 0.4 kcal/mol in ΔG than the conformer gG1, in which the favored entropic term due to the conformational flexibility and the other favored n → σ*, σ → σ*, and π → σ* interactions seem to play a role. The conformational preferences of the neutral GABA calculated by ΔG’s are reasonably consistent with the populations deduced from FT microwave spectroscopy in supersonic jets combined with laser ablation. In water, the two folded conformers Gg and gG of the zwitterionic GABA are dominantly populated, each of which has the population of 47%, and the hydrogen bond between the ammonium NH group and the lone electron pair of the CO− group seems to be crucial in stabilizing these conformers. Our calculated result that the folded conformers preferentially exist in water is consistent with the 1H NMR experiments in D2O.

► Conformational preferences of GABA have been explored using the density functional methods.
► Several factors play a role in stabilizing the preferred conformers of the neutral GABA.
► They include hyperconjugative and dipole-dipole interactions as well as entropic term.
► Two folded conformers of zwitterionic GABA are dominantly populated in water.