Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 29, 2025

Targeting Cysteine Thiols for in Vitro Site-specific Glycosylation of Recombinant Proteins
11:25

Targeting Cysteine Thiols for in Vitro Site-specific Glycosylation of Recombinant Proteins

Published on: October 4, 2017

6.7K

True Origin of Amide I Shifts Observed in Protein Spectra Obtained with Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy

Kuo-Yang Chiang1, Fumiki Matsumura1, Chun-Chieh Yu1

  • 1Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, 55128 Mainz, Germany.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
|May 22, 2023
PubMed

Accurate determination of protein structure at interfaces is critical for understanding protein interactions, which is directly relevant to a molecular-level understanding of interfacial proteins in biology and medicine. Vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy is often used for probing the protein amide I mode, which reports protein structures at interfaces. Observed peak shifts are attributed to conformational changes and often form the foundation of hypotheses explaining protein working mechanisms. Here, we investigate structurally diverse proteins using conventional and heterodyne-detected VSFG (HD-VSFG) spectroscopy as a function of solution pH. We reveal that blue-shifts of the amide I peak observed in conventional VSFG spectra upon lowering the pH are governed by the drastic change of the nonresonant contribution. Our results highlight that connecting changes in conventional VSFG spectra to conformational changes of interfacial proteins can be arbitrary, and that HD-VSFG measurements are required to draw unambiguous conclusions about structural changes in biomolecules.

More Related Videos

Proton Transfer and Protein Conformation Dynamics in Photosensitive Proteins by Time-resolved Step-scan Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy10:03

Proton Transfer and Protein Conformation Dynamics in Photosensitive Proteins by Time-resolved Step-scan Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy

Published on: June 27, 2014

18.0K
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for the Identification of Multiple Phosphorylations of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins12:47

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for the Identification of Multiple Phosphorylations of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Published on: December 27, 2016

18.9K

Related Concept Videos

NMR Spectroscopy Of Amines01:19

NMR Spectroscopy Of Amines

In proton NMR spectroscopy, primary amines and secondary amines showcase their N–H protons as a broad signal in the chemical shift range between δ 0.5 and 5 ppm. The exact position in this range depends on several factors, including sample concentration, hydrogen bonding, and the type of solvent used. Since amine protons undergo fast proton exchange in solution, the protons are labile and therefore do not participate in any splitting with adjacent protons. Thus, the observed peak is...
9.0K
NMR Spectroscopy: Chemical Shift Overview01:15

NMR Spectroscopy: Chemical Shift Overview

The position of the absorption signal of a sample is reported relative to the position of the signal of tetramethylsilane (TMS), which is added as an internal reference while recording spectra. The difference between the absorption frequencies of the sample and TMS (in Hz) is divided by the spectrometer operating frequency (in MHz) to obtain a dimensionless quantity called the chemical shift. It is reported on the δ (delta) scale and expressed in parts per million.
For instance, the proton...
1.6K
IR Spectrum Peak Splitting: Symmetric vs Asymmetric Vibrations01:08

IR Spectrum Peak Splitting: Symmetric vs Asymmetric Vibrations

Identical bonds within a polyatomic group can stretch symmetrically (in-phase) or asymmetrically (out-of-phase). Similar to hydrogen bonding, these vibrations also influence the shape of the IR peak. Generally, asymmetric stretching frequencies are higher than symmetric stretching frequencies. For example, primary amines exhibit two distinct IR peaks between 3300–3500 cm−1 corresponding to the symmetric and asymmetric N-H stretching, while secondary amines exhibit a single...
1.1K
Mass Spectrometry of Amines01:19

Mass Spectrometry of Amines

In mass spectroscopy, amines undergo fragmentation to give parent ions with odd molecule weights. This observed mass spectrum follows the nitrogen rule: a molecule with an odd number of nitrogen atoms produces a parent ion with an odd molecular weight. The remaining fragments have an even mass.
Amines undergo fragmentation through α cleavage, producing nitrogen-containing cations—iminium ions—and alkyl radicals. Mass spectra of aromatic and cyclic aliphatic amines exhibit...
4.3K
¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals01:02

¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals

Spin systems where the difference in chemical shifts of the coupled nuclei is greater than ten times J are called first-order spin systems. These nuclei are weakly coupled, and their chemical shifts and coupling constant can generally be estimated from the well-separated signals in the spectrum.
As Δν decreases and the signals move closer, the doublets appear increasingly distorted. The intensities of the inner lines increase at the cost of those of the outer lines as the signals are...
1.1K
Proton (¹H) NMR: Chemical Shift01:07

Proton (¹H) NMR: Chemical Shift

Organic molecules primarily contain carbon and hydrogen atoms. While all the hydrogen isotopes are NMR-active, protium or hydrogen-1 is the most abundant. It has a significant energy separation between its nuclear spin states due to its large gyromagnetic ratio. As per Boltzmann's distribution, an increase in the energy separation implies a greater excess population of nuclei available for excitation, resulting in a strong NMR absorption signal.
Absorption signals of all the protium nuclei...
1.8K