Amide hydrogen exchange rates of peptides in H2O solution by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance transfer of solvent saturation method. Conformations of oxytocin and lysine vasopressin in aqueous solution.

The NH exchange rates in aqueous media of oxytocin and 8-lysine vasopressin (LVP) have been measured by using transfer of solvent saturation method. The data are consistent with a "highly motile" dynamic equilibrium between folded and highly solvated conformations. The highly-motility limit applies to the exchange of NH hydrogens of oxytocin and LVP. Folded structures are more prevalent in oxytocin than in LVP. Partial shielding is indicated for peptide hydrogens of Asn5 and perhaps also Cys6 of oxytocin and for Cys6 of LVP. It is tentatively proposed that the folded conformation of oxytocin in aqueous media may contain a parallel beta-structure in the tocinamide ring consisting of two hydrogen bonds: one between the Tyr2 C = O and Asn5 peptide NH as originally proposed for the preferred conformation of oxytocin in dimethyl sulfoxide (D. W. Urry and R. Walter), and the second between he Cys1 C = O and the Cys6 NH. In LVP the hydrogen bond between the Tyr2 C = O and Asn5 peptide NH appears to be absent. The acylic tripeptide sequences (-Pro-X-Gly-NH2) of both hormones appear to be predominantly solvated. The second-order rate constants for acid catalyzed exchange of the primary amide hydrogens of Gln4, Asn5, and Gly9 of oxytocin are consistently greater for the trans NH than for the corresponding cis NH. This observation can be rationalized in terms of mechanisms involving protonation of either the amide oxygen, or the amide nitrogen, but with limited rotation about the C - N bond.