Interference between the hydrogen bonds to the two rings of nicotine

Jérome Graton, Tanja Van Mourik, Sarah L. Price

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The biochemical transport and binding of nicotine depends on the hydrogen bonding between water and binding site residues to the pyridine ring and the protonated pyrrolidinium ring. To test the independence of these two moderately separated hydrogen-bonding sites, we have calculated the structures of clusters of protonated nicotine with water and a bicarbonate anion, benzene, indole, or a second water molecule. Unprotonated nicotine-water clusters have also been studied for contrast. The potential energy surfaces are first explored with an intermolecular anisotropic atom-atom model potential. Full geometry optimizations are then carried out using density functional theory to include nonadditive terms in the interaction energies. The presence of the charge on the pyrrolidine nitrogen removes the conventional hydrogen-bonding site on the pyridine ring. The hydrogen-bond ability of this site is nearly recovered when the protonated pyrrolidinium ring is bound to a bicarbonate anion, whereas its interaction with benzene shows a much smaller effect. Indole appears to partially restore the hydrogen-bond ability of the pyridine nitrogen, although indole and benzene both pi-bond to the pyrrolidinium ring. A second hydrogen-bonding water produces a significant conformational distortion of the nicotine. This demonstrates the limitations of the conventional qualitative predictions of hydrogen bonding based on the independence of molecular fragments. It also provides benchmarks for the development of atomistic modeling of biochemical systems.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5988-5997
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume125
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 May 2003

Keywords

  • AB-INITIO CALCULATIONS
  • DISTRIBUTED MULTIPOLE ANALYSIS
  • CATION-PI INTERACTIONS
  • ACETYLCHOLINE-RECEPTORS
  • WATER DIMER
  • GAS-PHASE
  • N-H
  • PERTURBATION-THEORY
  • OXYGEN-ATOMS
  • GEOMETRY

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