Ultrafast conformational dynamics in cyclic azobenzene peptides of increased flexibility.

Structural changes of peptides containing the azobenzene dye 4-aminomethyl-phenylazobenzoic acid (AMPB) are studied with ultrafast spectroscopy. AMPB peptides are a new class of molecules where the photoisomerizable dye azobenzene is linked to the peptide moiety via a flexible methylene spacer. The ultrafast reactions in the femtosecond to nanosecond time domain are investigated for the optical switch AMPB, a linear and cyclic octapeptide, and a bicyclic octapeptide containing an additional disulfide bridge. These molecules with increasing conformational constraints are studied for the cis to trans and the trans to cis photoreactions. For the cis to trans reaction the isomerization of the chromophore occurs fast in the 1-ps range, whereas it is slower (10-ps range) in the trans to cis reaction. In all peptides the structural changes of the chromophore lead to modifications in the peptide structure in the 10-ps-1-ns time range. The results indicate that the chromophore AMPB acts simultaneously as a fast molecular switch and as a sensor for initial conformational dynamics in the peptide. Experiments in the mid-infrared range where the structural changes of the peptide backbone are directly observed demonstrate that the essential part of the structural dynamics in the bicyclic AMPB peptide occurs faster than 10 ns.

Photomodulation of conformational states. I. Mono- and bicyclic peptides with (4-amino)phenylazobenzoic acid as backbone constituent.

The thioredoxin reductase active-site fragment H-Ala-Cys-Ala-Thr-Cys-Asp-Gly-Phe-OH [134-141], which is known for its high tendency to assume an almost identical conformation as in the intact enzyme, was backbone cyclized with the photoresponsive (4-amino)phenylazobenzoic acid (APB) to produce a monocyclic and disulfide-bridged bicyclic APB-peptide. Light-induced reversible cis/trans isomerization occurs at identical extents in both the linear and the two cyclic forms. Nuclear magnetic resonance conformational analysis clearly revealed that in the bicyclic APB-peptide both as a trans- and cis-azo-isomer the constraints imparted by the bicyclic structure do not allow the molecule to relax into a defined low energy conformation, thus making the molecule a frustrated system that flip-flops between multiple conformational states. Conversely, the monocyclic APB peptide folds into a well-defined lowest energy structure as a trans-azo-isomer, which upon photoisomerization to the cis-azo configuration relaxes into a less restricted conformational space. First femtosecond spectroscopic analysis of the dynamics of the photoreaction confirm a fast first phase on the femtosecond time scale related to the cis/trans isomerization of the azobenzene moiety followed by a slower phase in the picosecond time scale that involves an adjustment of the peptide backbone. Due to the well- defined photoresponsive two-state transition of this monocyclic peptide molecule, it represents a model system well suited for studying the ultrafast dynamics of conformational transitions by time-resolved spectroscopy.