The influence of solvent on conformational properties of peptides with Aib residue—a DFT study

The conformational propensities of the Aib residue on the example of two model peptides Ac-Aib-NHMe (1) and Ac-Aib-NMe2 (2), were studied by B3LYP and M06-2X functionals, in the gas phase and in the polar solvents. To verify the reliability of selected functionals, we also performed MP2 calculations for the tested molecules in vacuum. Polarizable continuum models (PCM and SMD) were used to estimate the solvent effect. Ramachandran maps were calculated to find all energy minima. Noncovalent intramolecular interactions due to hydrogen-bonds and dipole attractions between carbonyl groups are responsible for the relative stabilities of the conformers. In order to verify the theoretical results, the available conformations of similar X-ray structures from the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center (CCDC) were analyzed. The results of the calculations show that both derivatives with the Aib residue in the gas phase prefer structures stabilized by intramolecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, i.e., C5 and C7 conformations, while polar solvent promotes helical conformation with φ, ψ values equal to +/-60°, +/-40°. In addition, in the case of molecule 2, the helical conformation is the only one available in the polar environment. This result is fully consistent with the X-ray data. Graphical abstract Effect of solvent on the Ramachandran maps of the model peptides with Aib residue.