A systematic study of the valence electronic structure of cyclo(Gly–Phe), cyclo(Trp–Tyr) and cyclo(Trp–Trp) dipeptides in the gas phase

Abstract

The electronic energy levels of cyclo(glycine–phenylalanine), cyclo(tryptophan–tyrosine) and cyclo(tryptophan–tryptophan) dipeptides are investigated with a joint experimental and theoretical approach. Experimentally, valence photoelectron spectra in the gas phase are measured using VUV radiation. Theoretically, we first obtain low-energy conformers through an automated conformer–rotamer ensemble sampling scheme based on tight-binding simulations. Then, different first principles computational schemes are considered to simulate the spectra: Hartree–Fock (HF), density functional theory (DFT) within the B3LYP approximation, the quasi-particle GW correction, and the quantum-chemistry CCSD method. Theory allows assignment of the main features of the spectra. A discussion on the role of electronic correlation is provided, by comparing computationally cheaper DFT scheme (and GW) results with the accurate CCSD method.