Comparative study of conformational behaviour of leucine and methionine enkephalinamides by1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

The conformational proclivity of leucine and methionine enkephalinamides in deuterated dimethyl sulphoxide has been investigated using proton magnetic resonance at 500 MHz. The resonances from the spin system of the various amino acid residues have been assigned from the 2-dimensional correlated spectroscopy spectra. The temperature variation of the amide proton shifts indicates that none of the amide proton is intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded or solvent-shielded. The analysis of vicinal coupling constants,³J_{HN.C 2}H,along with temperature coefficients and the absence of characteristic nuclear Overhauser effect cross peaks between the NH protons reveal that there is no evidence of the chain folding in these molecules. However, the observation of nuclear Overhauser effect cross peaks between the NH and the C^αH of the preceding residue indicates preference for extended backbone conformation with preferred side chain orientations particularly of Tyr and Phe in both Leu⁵]- and Met⁵]-enkephalinamides.