Competitive Dissociation Research Articles

Statistical Rate Theory and Kinetic Energy-Resolved Ion Chemistry: Theory and Applications

Ion chemistry, first discovered 100 years ago, has profitably been coupled with statistical rate theories, developed about 80 years ago and refined since. In this overview, the application of statistical rate theory to the analysis of kinetic-energy-dependent collision-induced dissociation (CID) reactions is reviewed. This procedure accounts for and quantifies the kinetic shifts that are observed as systems increase in size. The statistical approach developed allows straightforward extension to systems undergoing competitive or sequential dissociations. Such methods can also be applied to the reverse of the CID process, association reactions, as well as to quantitative analysis of ligand exchange processes. Examples of each of these types of reactions are provided and the literature surveyed for successful applications of this statistical approach to provide quantitative thermochemical information. Such applications include metal-ligand complexes, metal clusters, proton-bound complexes, organic intermediates, biological systems, saturated organometallic complexes, and hydrated and solvated species.

Rapid-reaction Kinetic Characterization of the Pathway of Streptokinase-Plasmin Catalytic Complex Formation

Binding of the fibrinolytic proteinase plasmin (Pm) to streptokinase (SK) in a tight stoichiometric complex transforms Pm into a potent proteolytic activator of plasminogen. SK binding to the catalytic domain of Pm, with a dissociation constant of 12 pm, is assisted by SK Lys(414) binding to a Pm kringle, which accounts for a 11-20-fold affinity decrease when Pm lysine binding sites are blocked by 6-aminohexanoic acid (6-AHA) or benzamidine. The pathway of SK.Pm catalytic complex formation was characterized by stopped-flow kinetics of SK and the Lys(414) deletion mutant (SKDeltaK414) binding to Pm labeled at the active site with 5-fluorescein ([5F]FFR-Pm) and the reverse reactions by competitive displacement of [5F]FFR-Pm with active site-blocked Pm. The rate constants for the biexponential fluorescence quenching caused by SK and SKDeltaK414 binding to [5F]FFR-Pm were saturable as a function of SK concentration, reporting encounter complex affinities of 62-110 nm in the absence of lysine analogs and 4900-6500 and 1430-2200 nm in the presence of 6-AHA and benzamidine, respectively. The encounter complex with SKDeltaK414 was approximately 10-fold weaker in the absence of lysine analogs but indistinguishable from that of native SK in the presence of 6-AHA and benzamidine. The studies delineate for the first time the sequence of molecular events in the formation of the SK.Pm catalytic complex and its regulation by kringle ligands. Analysis of the forward and reverse reactions supports a binding mechanism in which SK Lys(414) binding to a Pm kringle accompanies near-diffusion-limited encounter complex formation followed by two slower, tightening conformational changes.

Where Does the Electron Go? Electron Distribution and Reactivity of Peptide Cation Radicals Formed by Electron Transfer in the Gas phase

We report the first detailed analysis at correlated levels of ab initio theory of experimentally studied peptide cations undergoing charge reduction by collisional electron transfer and competitive dissociations by loss of H atoms, ammonia, and N-C alpha bond cleavage in the gas phase. Doubly protonated Gly-Lys, (GK + 2H) (2+), and Lys-Lys, (KK + 2H) (2+), are each calculated to exist as two major conformers in the gas phase. Electron transfer to conformers with an extended lysine chain triggers highly exothermic dissociation by loss of ammonia from the Gly residue, which occurs from the ground ( X ) electronic state of the cation radical. Loss of Lys ammonium H atoms is predicted to occur from the first excited ( A ) state of the charge-reduced ions. The X and A states are nearly degenerate and show extensive delocalization of unpaired electron density over spatially remote groups. This delocalization indicates that the captured electron cannot be assigned to reduce a particular charged group in the peptide cation and that superposition of remote local Rydberg-like orbitals plays a critical role in affecting the cation-radical reactivity. Electron attachment to ion conformers with carboxyl-solvated Lys ammonium groups results in spontaneous isomerization by proton-coupled electron transfer to the carboxyl group forming dihydroxymethyl radical intermediates. This directs the peptide dissociation toward NC alpha bond cleavage that can proceed by multiple mechanisms involving reversible proton migrations in the reactants or ion-molecule complexes. The experimentally observed formations of Lys z (+*) fragments from (GK + 2H) (2+) and Lys c (+) fragments from (KK + 2H) (2+) correlate with the product thermochemistry but are independent of charge distribution in the transition states for NC alpha bond cleavage. This emphasizes the role of ion-molecule complexes in affecting the charge distribution between backbone fragments produced upon electron transfer or capture.

Electron capture, femtosecond electron transfer and theory: A study of noncovalent crown ether 1, n-diammonium alkane complexes

Complexes of doubly protonated 1, n-diaminoalkanes with one or two molecules of 18-crown-6-ether undergo consecutive and competitive dissociations upon electron capture from a free thermal electron and femtosecond collisional electron transfer from Na and Cs atoms. The electron capture dissociation (ECD) and electron capture-induced dissociation (ECID) mass spectra show very different products and product ion intensities. In ECD, the reduced precursor ions dissociate primarily by loss of an ammonium hydrogen and the crown ether ligand. In ECID, ions from many more dissociation channels are observed and depend on whether collisions occur with Na or Cs atoms. ECID induces highly endothermic C C bond cleavages along the diaminoalkane chain, which are not observed with ECD. Adduction of one or two crown ethers to diaminoalkanes results in different electron capture cross-sections that follow different trends for ECD and ECID. Electron structure calculations at the B3-PMP2/6-311++G(2d,p) level of theory were used to determine structures of ions and ion radicals and the energetics for protonation, electron transfer, and ion dissociations for most species studied experimentally. The calculations revealed that the crown ether ligand substantially affected the recombination energy of the diaminoalkane ion and the electronic states accessed by electron attachment.

Charge inversion of polypeptide anions using protein and dendrimer cations as charge inversion reagents

The conversion of deprotonated bradykinin, as well as anions derived from other polypeptides, to protonated species has been demonstrated via ion/ion reactions with multiply protonated polypropylenimine diaminobutane (DAB) dendrimers and proteins in a linear ion trap. The charge inversion characteristics of both the proteins and the dendrimers were examined with emphasis on the extent of charging of the analyte and the tendency for adduct formation. Multiply protonated proteins, for example, tended to result in significant adduct formation whereas the multiply protonated amino-terminated dendrimers showed essentially no adduct formation. Ions derived from five dendrimer generations were examined as charge inversion reagents with deprotonated bradykinin serving as a peptide model. Both the size and the charge state of the dendrimer reagent ion played a role in determining the number of protons transferred from the reagent cation to the peptide anion. For a given dendrimer generation, the tendency is for increasing numbers of protons to transfer with increasing dendrimer charge. For a given charge state, the numbers of protons transferred tends to be inversely related to dendrimer size. All of the observed data are consistent with charge inversion taking place via a long-lived intermediate complex with the ultimate products being determined by the fate of the complex (i.e., stabilization of the complex versus break-up into one of several competitive dissociation channels).

Determination of enantiomeric compositions of DOPA by tandem mass spectrometry using the kinetic method with fixed ligands

A fixed ligand (FL) version of the kinetic method was applied to rapid, simple, and accurate chiral analysis of DOPA, which is an important drug used for treatment of Parkinson's disease. Singly charged clusters containing the transition metal ion Cu(II), pyridyl ligands which serve as a fixed ligand, some amino acid as a reference, and the analyte DOPA were generated by electrospray ionization. The cluster ion of interest was mass-selected, and the kinetics of its competitive unimolecular dissociations was investigated in an ion trap mass spectrometer. The chiral selectivity (R(chiral)), the ratio of the two fragment ion abundances when the cluster contains one pure enantiomer of the analyte expressed relative to that for the other enantiomer, varies with fixed ligands, references, and transition metals. Chiral discrimination was optimized in 1,10-phenanthroline as a FL, L-Phe and L-Pro as a reference, and Cu(II) as a central metal ion. Quantitative determinations of the enantiomeric composition of DOPA were achieved using two-point calibration curves. The linear relationship between the logarithm of the fragment ion abundance ratio (ln R) and enantiomeric compositions (ee%) of the DOPA allows the determination of the chiral purity of enantiomeric mixtures.

Investigations of Acidity and Nucleophilicity of Diphenyldithiophosphinate Ligands Using Theory and Gas-Phase Dissociation Reactions

Diphenyldithiophosphinate (DTP) ligands modified with electron-withdrawing trifluoromethyl (TFM) substitutents are of high interest because they have demonstrated potential for exceptional separation of Am (3+) from lanthanide (3+) cations. Specifically, the bis( ortho-TFM) (L 1 (-)) and ( ortho-TFM)( meta-TFM) (L 2 (-)) derivatives have shown excellent separation selectivity, while the bis( meta-TFM) (L 3 (-)) and unmodified DTP (L u (-)) did not. Factors responsible for selective coordination have been investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations in concert with competitive dissociation reactions in the gas phase. To evaluate the role of (DTP + H) acidity, density functional calculations were used to predict p K a values of the free acids (HL n ), which followed the trend of HL 3 < HL 2 < HL 1 < HL u. The order of p K a for the TFM-modified (DTP+H) acids was opposite of what would be expected based on the e (-)-withdrawing effects of the TFM group, suggesting that secondary factors influence the p K a and nucleophilicity. The relative nucleophilicities of the DTP anions were evaluated by forming metal-mixed ligand complexes in a trapped ion mass spectrometer and then fragmenting them using competitive collision induced dissociation. On the basis of these experiments, the unmodified L u (-) anion was the strongest nucleophile. Comparing the TFM derivatives, the bis( ortho-TFM) derivative L 1 (-) was found to be the strongest nucleophile, while the bis( meta-TFM) L 3 (-) was the weakest, a trend consistent with the p K a calculations. DFT modeling of the Na (+) complexes suggested that the elevated cation affinity of the L 1 (-) and L 2 (-) anions was due to donation of electron density from fluorine atoms to the metal center, which was occurring in rotational conformers where the TFM moiety was proximate to the Na (+)-dithiophosphinate group. Competitive dissociation experiments were performed with the dithiophosphinate anions complexed with europium nitrate species; ionic dissociation of these complexes always generated the TFM-modified dithiophosphinate anions as the product ion, showing again that the unmodified L u (-) was the strongest nucleophile. The Eu(III) nitrate complexes also underwent redox elimination of radical ligands; the tendency of the ligands to undergo oxidation and be eliminated as neutral radicals followed the same trend as the nucleophilicities for Na (+), viz. L 3 (-) < L 2 (-) < L 1 (-) < L u (-).

Conformational flexibility and kinetic complexity in antibody–antigen interactions

The kinetics of dissociation of three structurally characterized anti-hen egg white lysozyme antibodies (H8, H10, and H26), with hen egg white lysozyme (HEL) and the avian variant Japanese quail lysozyme (JQL) were examined. These antibodies share over 90% sequence identity and recognize the same epitope, but differ in their degree of cross-reactivity and predicted combining site rigidity. Competitive dissociation induced by the addition of excess unlabeled HEL after varied periods of antibody-antigen association was followed in real time using fluorescence anisotropy. Dissociation was in many cases non-single-exponential, and the observed off-rates became slower as the complex age increased, suggesting multi-step association kinetics consistent with an encounter-docking view of protein-protein interactions. The fully docked fraction of the complexes just prior to inducing dissociation was high for the HEL complexes but was dramatically reduced for JQL complexes, that is final docking was antigen-sensitive. Variations among the systems can be understood in terms of the complexes' differing conformational flexibilities, based on the encounter-docking model of protein-protein associations.

Kinetic method for enantiomeric determination of thyroid hormone ( d, l-thyroxine) using electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS)

A rapid, sensitive, simple and accurate mass spectrometric analysis for the recognition and quantitation of d- and l-thyroxine ( d- and l-T 4) was achieved by using kinetic method. The method uses the kinetics of competitive unimolecular fragmentations of trimeric transition metal ion-bound clusters formed under electrospray ionization (ESI). Singly charged cluster ions containing the divalent central metal ion Ca(II)/Mn(II), an amino acid/modified amino acid chiral reference, and the analyte d- and l-T 4 were generated by ESI. The cluster ion of interest was mass-selected, and subjected to collision-induced dissociation for undergoing dissociation by competitive loss of either a neutral reference or a neutral analyte. The chiral selectivity ( R chiral), the ratio of the two competitive dissociation rates (abundances of fragment ion) containing the analyte in one enantiomeric form expressed relative to that for the fragments of the other enantiomer, ranges from 0.46 to 3.03. Method by using fixed ligand such as peptide has also successfully improved chiral recognition and quantitative accuracy, which simplifies the dissociation kinetics, in which only the reference ligand or the analyte can be lost. The linear relationship between the logarithm of the fragment ion abundance ratio (ln R) and enantiomeric compositions (ee%) of the T 4 allows the chiral purity of enantiomeric mixtures to be determined. The average relative errors were less than 2% between the actual and experimental enantiomeric compositions.

Quantitative chiral analysis of phthaloylglutamic acid and related analogs by a single ratio kinetic method using electrospray ionization and matrix‐assisted laser desorption techniques

A rapid method for quantitative chiral analysis of phthaloylglutamic acid and its dimethyl ester by Cook's kinetic method is demonstrated using electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption techniques. Transition-metal-bound complex ions containing the chiral phthaloylglutamic acid and its dimethyl ester are generated by ESI mass spectrometry and subjected to collision-induced dissociation. The ratio of the two competitive dissociation rates is related to the enantiomeric composition of the drug mixture. A seven-point calibration curve, derived from the kinetic method, allowed rapid quantitation of the enantiomeric excess of drug mixtures. In this paper, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) coupled with the linear ion trap (LIT) technique is evaluated for its applicability as a complementary technique to ESI for chiral discrimination and quantitation.

Threshold Collision-Induced Dissociation of Hydrogen-Bonded Dimers of Carboxylic Acids

Energy-resolved competitive collision-induced dissociation is used to investigate the proton-bound heterodimer anions of a series of carboxylic acids (formic, acetic, and benzoic acid) and nitrous acid with their conjugate bases. The dissociation reactions of the complexes [CH3COO.H.OOCH]-, [CH3COO.H.ONO]-, [HCOO.H. ONO]-, [C6H5COO.H.OOCH]-, and [C6H5COO.H.ONO]- are investigated using a guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometer. Cross sections of the two dissociation channels are measured as a function of the collision energy between the complex ions and xenon target gas. Apparent relative gas-phase acidities are found by modeling the cross sections near the dissociation thresholds using statistical rate theory. Internal inconsistencies are found in the resulting relative acidities. These deviations apparently result from the formation of higher-energy conformers of the acids within the complex ions induced by double hydrogen bonding, which impedes the kinetics of dissociation to ground-state product acid conformations.

Theoretical study on the reaction mechanism of fluorine radical with formyl cyanide

A detailed computational study is performed on the radical-molecule reaction between the fluorine radical (F) and formylcyanide (HCOCN). At the CCSD//B3LYP/6-311G ∗∗ level, the barrier of H-abstraction to provide (HF + COCN) is 15.6 kJ/mol. The barrier of the addition to form HCOCFN is 35.3 kJ/mol. However, there is no barrier of the FCHOCN’s formation. Subsequently, there are two highly competitive dissociation pathways for FCHOCN: one is the formation of the direct H-extrusion product H + FCOCN, and the other is the formation of H + FCOCN via the intermediate FCOHCN. Because of the influence of the strong electron acceptor-CN to the acyl, the addition-elimination is more competitive than the direct H-transfer, in contrast to previous expectation. The present results can be useful for future experimental investigation on the title reaction.

Electron Transfer to Protonated β-Alanine N-Methylamide in the Gas Phase: An Experimental and Computational Study of Dissociation Energetics and Mechanisms

Ammonium radicals derived from protonated beta-alanine N-methyl amide (BANMA) were generated by femtosecond collisional electron transfer to gas-phase cations prepared by chemical ionization and electrospray. Regardless of the mode of precursor ion preparation, the radicals underwent complete dissociation on the time scale of 5.15 micros. Deuterium isotope labeling and product analysis pointed out several competitive and convergent dissociation pathways that were not completely resolved by experiment. Ab initio calculations, which were extrapolated up to the CCSD(T)/6-311++G(3df,2p) level of theory, provided the proton affinity and gas-phase basicity of BANMA as PA = 971 kJ mol-1 and GB = 932 kJ mol-1 to form the most stable ion structure 1c+ in which the protonated ammonium group was internally solvated by hydrogen bonding to the amide carbonyl. Ion 1c+ was calculated to have an adiabatic recombination energy of 3.33 eV to form ammonium radical 1c*. The potential energy surface for competitive and consecutive isomerizations and dissociations of 1c* was investigated at correlated levels of theory and used for Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) calculations. RRKM unimolecular rate constants suggested that dissociations starting from the ground electronic state of radical 1c* were dominated by loss of an ammonium hydrogen atom. In contrast, dissociations starting from the B excited state were predicted to proceed by reversible isomerization to an aminoketyl radical (1f*). The latter can in part dissociate by N-Calpha bond cleavage leading to the loss of the amide methyl group. This indicates that apparently competitive dissociations observed for larger amide and peptide radicals, such as backbone cleavages and losses of side-chain groups, may originate from different electronic states and proceed on different potential energy surfaces.

Reactions of Nitrogen Oxides with the Five-Coordinate FeIII(porphyrin) Nitrito Intermediate Fe(Por)(ONO) in Sublimed Solids

Detailed experimental studies are described for reactions of several nitrogen oxides with iron porphyrin models for heme/NxOy systems. It is shown by FTIR and optical spectroscopy and by isotope labeling experiments that reaction of small increments of NO2 with sublimed thin layers of the iron(II) complex Fe(Por) (Por = meso-tetraphenylporphyrinato dianion, TPP, or meso-tetra-p-tolylporphyrinato dianion, TTP) leads to formation of the 5-coordinate nitrito complexes Fe(Por)(eta1-ONO) (1), which are fairly stable but very slowly decompose under vacuum giving mostly the corresponding nitrosyl complexes Fe(Por)(NO). Further reaction of 1 with new NO2 increments leads to formation of the nitrato complex Fe(Por)(eta2-O2NO) (2). The interaction of NO with 1 at low temperature involves ligand addition to give the nitrito-nitrosyl complexes Fe(Por)(eta1-ONO)(NO) (3); however, these isomerize to the nitro-nitrosyl analogs Fe(Por)(eta1-NO2)(NO) (4) upon warming. Experiments with labeled nitrogen oxides argue for an intramolecular isomerization ("flipping") mechanism rather than one involving dissociation and rebinding of NO2. The Fe(III) centers in the 6-coordinate species 3 and 4 are low spin in contrast to 1, which appears to be high-spin, although DFT computations of the porphinato models Fe(P)(nitrite) suggest that the doublet nitro species and the quartet and sextet nitrito complexes are all relatively close in energy. The nitro-nitrosyl complex 4 is stable under an NO atmosphere but decomposes under intense pumping to give a mixture of the ferrous nitrosyl complex Fe(Por)(NO) and the ferric nitrito complex Fe(Por)(eta1-ONO) indicating the competitive dissociation of NO and NO2. Hence, loss of NO from 4 is accompanied with nitro --> nitrito isomerization consistent with 1 being the more stable of the 5-coordinate NO2 complexes of iron porphyrins.

Improvements in quantitative chiral determinations using the mass spectrometric kinetic method

A significant shortcoming of the kinetic method for determining chiral purity from the competitive dissociation of a metal complex chelated with a chiral analyte and chiral reference is that it does not give useful quantitative data for high purity chiral samples in comparison to the standard chiral chromatography techniques. To extend the range of applications of the kinetic method to high chiral purity samples, a “vernier” method is reported which gives more accurate quantitative data for samples covering a narrow range of chiral purity. This is demonstrated for the case of a model amino acid in which Ni II is used as the metal cation, asparagine as the chiral reference, and the analyte is tryptophan. By selecting experimental conditions to give a measured peak abundance ratio near unity for the two competitive fragments (where abundance ratios are more accurately measured than at higher or lower values), samples of high (90–100%) chiral purity were more accurately assayed in the experiment using pure tryptophan. By switching the chirality of the reference compound, samples in the low (0–10%) chiral purity range could also be more precisely measured. The quantitative improvement in accuracy of the chiral measurement is shown by the average accuracy of 0.51% deviation (for the 90–100% chiral purity range of tryptophan using l-Asn as chiral reference) in comparison to the average deviation of 104.1% in the non-vernier region (the region that falls outside the high accuracy region of interest).

Productions of I, I*, and C2H5 in the A-band photodissociation of ethyl iodide in the wavelength range from 245to283nm by using ion-imaging detection

Photodissociation dynamics of ethyl iodide in the A band has been investigated at several wavelengths between 245 and 283 nm using resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization technique combined with velocity map ion-imaging detection. The ion images of I, I(*), and C(2)H(5) fragments are analyzed to yield corresponding speed and angular distributions. Two photodissociation channels are found: I(5p (2)P(3/2))+C(2)H(5) (hotter internal states) and I(*)(5p (2)P(1/2))+C(2)H(5) (colder). In addition, a competitive ionization dissociation channel, C(2)H(5)I(+)+h nu-->C(2)H(5)+I(+), appears at the wavelengths <266 nm. The I/I(*) branching of the dissociation channels may be obtained directly from the C(2)H(5) (+) images, yielding the quantum yield of I(*) about 0.63-0.76, comparable to the case of CH(3)I. Anisotropy parameters (beta) determined for the I(*) channel remain at 1.9+/-0.1 over the wavelength range studied, indicating that the I(*) production should originate from the (3)Q(0) state. In contrast, the beta(I) values become smaller above 266 nm, comprising two components, direct excitation of (3)Q(1) and nonadiabatic transition between the (3)Q(0) and (1)Q(1) states. The curve crossing probabilities are determined to be 0.24-0.36, increasing with the wavelength. A heavier branched ethyl group does not significantly enhance the I(5p (2)P(3/2)) production from the nonadiabatic contribution, as compared to the case of CH(3)I.

Nonradiative Interactions between Biotin-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles and Fluorophore-Labeled Antibiotin

The interaction between antibodies and ligand-functionalized nanoparticles were exploited in this work by taking advantage of the strong influence that metallic surfaces have on emission of fluorescence. The surface of colloidal gold nanoparticles was functionalized with biotin moieties embedded in a nonfouling matrix of di(ethylene glycol) groups to minimize nonspecific interactions. Antibiotin labeled with fluorophore Alexa™ 488 bound to these particles via specific biomolecular recognition interactions. Upon binding of the labeled antibody to the biotinylated nanoparticles, an immediate decrease in emission of fluorescence was observed. Competitive dissociation of the antibody from the nanoparticles with soluble biotin produced a recovery in the intensity of emission of fluorescence. For large concentrations of the antibody, emission of fluorescence (corrected for dilution and absorption/scattering effects) appeared to increase to levels higher than the intensity of emission of the unbound antibody. This apparent increase is ascribed to a decreased extinction coefficient produced during aggregation of the nanoparticles by the bivalent antibodies. This scheme could have applications in detection of small molecules or could be used to study the interactions of ligand functionalized nanoparticles and proteins.

Gas-Phase Acidities and O−H Bond Dissociation Enthalpies of Phenol, 3-Methylphenol, 2,4,6-Trimethylphenol, and Ethanoic Acid

Energy-resolved, competitive threshold collision-induced dissociation (TCID) methods are used to measure the gas-phase acidities of phenol, 3-methylphenol, 2,4,6-trimethylphenol, and ethanoic acid relative to hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulfide, and the hydroperoxyl radical using guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometry. The gas-phase acidities of Delta(acid)H298(C6H5OH) = 1456 +/- 4 kJ/mol, Delta(acid)H298(3-CH3C6H4OH) = 1457 +/- 5 kJ/mol, Delta(acid)H298(2,4,6-(CH3)3C6H2OH) = 1456 +/- 4 kJ/mol, and Delta(acid)H298(CH3COOH) = 1457 +/- 6 kJ/mol are determined. The O-H bond dissociation enthalpy of D298(C6H5O-H) = 361 +/- 4 kJ/mol is derived using the previously published experimental electron affinity for C6H5O, and thermochemical values for the other species are reported. A comparison of the new TCID values with both experimental and theoretical values from the literature is presented.

Formation of Anionic Peptide Radicals In Vacuo

In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time the formation of radical anionic peptides [M - 2H]*- through a one-electron transfer mechanism upon low-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) of gas-phase singly charged [Mn(III)(salen)(M - 2H)]*- complex ions [where salen is N,N'-ethylenebis(salicylideneiminato) and M is an angiotensin III derivative]. The types of fragment ions formed from [M - 2H]*- share some similarities with those from the cationic radical peptides M*+ and [M + H]*2+, but differ significantly from those of the corresponding deprotonated peptides [M - H]-. Fragmentation of [M - 2H]*- radical anionic angiotensin III derivatives leads preferentially to product ions of side-chain cleavage of amino acid residues, z-type and minor x-type fragment ions, most of which are types rarely observed in low-energy CID spectra of deprotonated analogs. The degree of competitive dissociation of the complexes is highly dependent on the nature of the substituted salen derivatives. The yields of anionic peptide radicals were enhanced to the greatest extent when electron withdrawing groups were positioned at the 5 and 5' positions, but the effect was rather modest when such groups resided at the 3 and 3' positions. Substituting a cyclohexyl unit of a salen with phenyl or naphthyl moieties at the 8 and 8' positions also facilitated electron-transfer pathways.

Real‐time measurement of dissociation rates of unlabeled compounds from a membrane receptor

Using scintillation proximity assay (SPA) technology in combination with Amersham's Leadseeker™ multimodality imaging system we have developed a real-time dissociation kinetics assay to determine the off rates of a panel of antagonists against the chemokine receptor, CCR5. We accomplished this by binding CCR5 membrane preparations to WGA coated polystyrene beads over a period of two hours, incubating with unlabeled antagonists for 5 hours at a concentration 3*Ki, and then initiating the dissociation with a 3H-labeled probe in a 384-well format at 25*Kd. We found that the relevant kinetics could be masked by the use of too much membrane, possibly due to saturation of the bead binding surface; a concentration ratio of 15ug membrane/mg bead was found to be optimum requiring expression levels of receptor of >5.7 pmol/mg. This 384-well assay allows for higher throughput, continuous quantitation as well as the use of less protein, antagonist and radioligand. From these measurements, the experimental data is calculated as the percentage of the receptors bound with the 3H-labeled probe. Dissociation kinetic parameters are estimated by an in-house, web-based statistical tool developed with SAS system software that fits a competitive dissociation model to this data using nonlinear regression.