Speaker: Yoni Toker, Yoni Toker, Bar Ilan University, IL

Title: Peptide Bond Formation in Amino Acid Clusters

Abstract:

Intra-cluster bond formation (ICBF) is a process in which, following excitation of a loosely bound molecular cluster, a covalent bond is formed between neighbouring molecules within the cluster. This mechanism has been suggested as an important route towards the abiotic formation of large complex organic molecules with relevance both to astro-chemistry and towards the origin of life. Our group in recent years has thoroughly studied peptide bond formation (PBF) in amino acid clusters following different modes of excitation: low energy collision induced dissociation in a commercial mass spectrometer, high energy collision induced dissociation in the ARIBE facility in GANIL and following VUV absorption in the SOLEIL synchrotron, In our talk we will review our results including conclusive proof of PBF, the observation of strong chiral effects in some cases, specificity in PBF, and the use of MSN to follow reaction pathways step by step. We will also show progress towards inhouse measurements towards ICBF following VUV absorption.
Figure 1: Illustration of PBF following VUV excitation of a protonated serine dipeptide
References:
[1] “Peptide Bond Formation in Protonated Serine Dimer Following VUV Photon-Induced Excitation” Ori Licht, Dario Barreiro-Lage, Patrick Rousseau, Alexandre Giuliani, Aleksandar Milosavljevic, Avinoam Isaak, Yitzhak Mastai, Amnon Albeck, Raj Singh, Vy Nguyen, Laurent Nahon, Lara Martinez, Sergio Díaz-Tendero, Yoni Toker, Ang. Chem. Int. Ed. 62 (2023), e2022L18770.