Effects of transition metal ion identity and π-cation interactions in metal-bis(peptide) complexes containing phenylalanine.

Electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry was used to study the effects of the metal ion identity and π-cation interactions on the dissociation pathways of metal-bis(peptide) complexes, where the metal is either Mn(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), Cu(2+), or Zn(2+); and the peptide is either FGGF, GGGG, GF, or GG, where G is glycine and F is phenylalanine. The [(FGGF)(FGGF-H) + M(2+)](+) and [(GGGG)(GGGG-H) + M(2+)](+) complexes dissociated by losing one FGGF or GGGG, respectively. Relative binding affinities were measured using the crossover points, where the parent and product ions were equal in ion abundance and a normalized-collision energy scale.