Prediction of (L)-methionine VCD spectra in the gas phase and water solution

In this paper we provide a computational study of the l-methionine conformational landscape and VCD spectra in the gas phase and a water environment simulated by implicit PCM and the hybrid model, i.e., a combination of explicit "microsolvation" and implicit models. In the gas phase, two groups of conformers differing in H-bonding, i.e., OH···NH2 and NH···O═C, could be distinguished based solely on the IR ν(OH) and ν(NH) stretching vibrations range. On the other hand, VCD better reflected chain differences. The most stable OH···NH2 conformer was predicted to be easily detected, and the presence of two out of four NH···O═C conformers could be confirmed. Three zwitterionic methionine conformers were shown to dominate in water. Their VCD spectra, simulated within the hybrid model at the B3LYP-IEF-PCM/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory, indicated that they could be recognized in the mixture. Use of the hybrid model is crucial for good reproduction of the hydrogen bonding pattern in the VCD spectra of methionine in water solution. However, the 1300-800 cm(-1) region of the skeleton vibrations of methionine appeared to be relatively insensitive to the model of the solvent.