Exploration of CH···π mediated stacking interactions in saccharide: aromatic residue complexes through conformational sampling.

Saccharides interact with aromatic residues mostly through CH···π mediated stacking interactions. The energetics of such interactions depends upon the mutual position-orientations (POs) of the two moieties. The POs found in the crystal structures are only a subset of the various possible ways of interaction. Hence, potential energy surfaces of saccharide-aromatic residue complexes have been explored by mixed Monte Carlo multiple minimum/low mode sampling. The saccharides considered in this study are α/β-D-glucose, β-D-galactose, α-D-mannose, and α/β-L-fucose. p-Hydroxytoluene, toluene, and 3-methylindole were used as analogs of tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan, respectively. The saccharides interact from either above or below the π-cloud of an aromatic ring but not along the edges. The POs preferred by different saccharides, both in the preferred chair and skew-boat forms, for interacting with different aromatic amino acid residue analogs have been identified. Aromatic residues can interact with the same -CH group in many POs but not so with the -OH groups. Changes in the configurations of pyranose ring carbon atoms cause remarkable changes in stacking preferences. β-D-Galactose and β-L-fructose interact only through their b- and a-faces, respectively. Saccharides use a wide variety of apolar patches for stacking against aromatic residues and these have been analyzed in detail. As many as four -CH groups can simultaneously participate in CH···π interactions, especially with 3-methylindole owing to its larger surface area.