Theoretical Modeling of the Chirality Discrimination of Enantiomers by Nanotubular Cyclic Peptides using Gas-Phase Photoelectron Spectroscopy: An ONIOM Spectroscopic Calculations.

Abstract

In the present work, the chirality recognition of the enantiomers of a chiral molecule (1-phenyl-1-propanol) interacting with a nanotubular cyclic peptide (E-type cyclic decapeptide) was investigated by their ionization in the gas phase, theoretically. The absolute energy difference between the interaction of the S- and R-enantiomer with the cyclic peptide, calculated at the M06-2X/6-311++G(d, p) level of theory, was 4.70 kcal·mol(-1). Two different schemes of "Our own N-layered Integrated molecular Orbital and molecular Mechanics (ONIOM)" method such as (quantum mechanics (QM):molecular mechanics (MM)) and (QM:QM) were employed to study the effect of the interaction on the gas-phase ionization energies of the enantiomers and cyclic peptide, separately. The symmetry-adapted cluster/configuration interaction (SAC-CI) methodology was used for the calculation of the ionization energies. It was found that the difference between the interactions of R- and S-enantiomer with the cyclic peptide caused different changes in the photoelectron spectrum of each enantiomer so that these changes could be used for the chirality discrimination of the enantiomers in the gas phase. Similarly, the photoelectron spectrum of the cyclic peptide interacting with the R and S-enantiomer were calculated, separately, and it was observed that the difference in the interaction with the R- and S-enantiomer created different changes in the spectrum of cyclic peptide. Finally, it was shown that the difference in the interaction of cyclic peptide with the enantiomers of a chiral molecule in the gas phase can be used for the identification of enantiomers in the gas phase by the direct ionization.