Revealing the multiple structures of serine

We explored the conformational landscape of the proteinogenic amino acid serine CH(2)OH CH(NH(2)) COOH] in the gas phase. Solid serine was vaporized by laser ablation, expanded in a supersonic jet, and characterized by Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. In the isolation conditions of the jet there have been discovered up to seven different neutral (non-zwitterionic) structures of serine, which are conclusively identified by the comparison between the experimental values of the rotational and quadrupole coupling constants with those predicted by ab initio calculations. These seven forms can serve as a basis to represent the shape of serine in the gas phase. From the postexpansion abundances we derived the conformational stability trend, which is controlled by the subtle network of intramolecular hydrogen bonds formed between the polar groups in the amino acid backbone and the hydroxy side chain. It is proposed that conformational cooling perturbs the equilibrium conformational distribution; thus, some of the lower-energy forms are "missing" in the supersonic expansion.