Integrated Thermochemical Approach to Collision-Induced Dissociation Process of Peptides

Collision-induced dissociation of peptides involves a series of proton-transfer reactions in the activated peptide. To describe the kinetics of energy-variable dissociation, we considered the heat capacity of the peptide and the Marcus-theory-type proton-transfer rate. The peptide ion was activated to the high internal energy states by collision with a target gas in the collision cell. The mobile proton in the activated peptide then migrated from the most stable site to the amide oxygen and subsequently to the amide nitrogen (N-protonated) of the peptide bond to be broken. The N-protonated intermediate proceeded to the product-like complex that dissociated to products. Previous studies have suggested that the proton-transfer equilibria in the activated peptide affect the dissociation kinetics. To take the extent of collisional activation into account, we assumed a soft-sphere collision model, where the relative collision energy was fully available to the internal excitation of a collision complex. In addition, we employed a Marcus-theory-type rate equation to account for the proton-transfer equilibria. Herein, we present results from the integrated thermochemical approach using a tryptic peptide of ubiquitin.