Association between N-Terminal Pyrenes Stabilizes the Collagen Triple Helix

Collagen model peptides featuring the fluorophore pyrene at their N-termini have been synthesized, and their thermal denaturation has been examined using circular dichroism (CD) and fluorescence spectroscopies. Flanking the (Pro-Hyp-Gly)₇ core of the peptide monomers at positions 1 and/or 23 in the primary sequence, Lys residues were introduced to ensure water solubility. Triple helices derived from such peptides show a broad excimer emission at ∼480 nm, indicative of interaction between the pyrene units. CD experiments show that the fluorophores enhance helix stability primarily through entropic effects. Unfolding temperatures (T_m) increase by up to 7 °C for systems with N-terminal lysine residues and by up to 21 °C for systems in which the first-position Lys is replaced by Ala. T_m values derived from fluorescence measurements (at 50 μM) typically lie within ∼1 °C of those obtained using CD (at 200 μM). Computational modeling in a water continuum using B3LYP-GD3 and M06-2X functionals predicts that face-to-face association of fluorophores can occur while H-bonding within the [(POG)]₃ assembly is retained. Such parallel stacking is consistent with hydrophobically driven stabilization. Labeling collagen peptides with pyrene is a synthetically simple way to promote triple helicity while providing a means to obtain T_m data on relatively dilute samples.