International Journal of Quantum Chemistry
International Journal of Quantum Chemistry
5 years ago

Silicon amino acids

Silicon amino acids
Marcin Czapla
The existence and gas phase stability of silicon analogues of three natural amino acids (i.e., silicon glycine, silicon alanine, and silicon valine) belonging to the novel class of compounds termed silicon amino acids (SiAA) are investigated theoretically on the basis of ab initio QCISD/aug-cc-pVTZ and MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ calculations. All molecules studied (in their gas phase canonical forms) are structurally comparable to their proteinogenic counterparts (i.e., glycine, l-alanine, and l-valine) and capable of forming several structural isomers as such. These higher energy isomers are characterized by small relative energies (not exceeding 4 kcal mol−1). The simulated IR spectra of the Si-Gly, Si-Ala, and Si-Val global minima are also presented and discussed. Natural amino acids are the fundamental building blocks of life, however, unnatural amino acids (such as silicon-containing amino acids) are growing in relevance. This work introduces a novel class of modified amino acids—SiAA—in which all carbon atoms are replaced by the silicon atoms. It is notable that these untypical systems are structurally comparable to their proteinogenic counterparts and can be useful as the basis of alternative biochemical structures.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/qua.25488

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.