S-to-alpha C radical migration in the radical cations of Gly-Cys and Cys-Gly

The radical cations of Cys-Gly and Gly-Cys were studied using ion-molecule reactions (IMR), infrared multiple-photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectroscopy, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Homolytic cleavage of the S-NO bond of nitrosylated precursors generated radical cations with the radical site initially located on the sulfur atom. Time-resolved ion-molecule reactions showed that radical site migration via hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) occurred much more quickly in Gly-Cys•+ than in Cys-Gly•+. IRMPD and DFT calculations indicated that for Gly-Cys, the radical migrated from the sulfur atom to the α-carbon of glycine, which is lower in energy than the sulfur radical (-53.5 kJ/mol). This migration does not occur for Cys-Gly because the glycine α-carbon is higher in energy than the sulfur radical (10.3 kJ/mol). DFT calculations showed that the highest energy barriers for rearrangement are 68.2 kJ/mol for Gly-Cys and 133.8 kJ/mol for Cys-Gly, which is in agreement with both the IMR and IRMPD data and explains the HAT in Gly-Cys.