A Fluorescence, 1H NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics study of the influence of rotamer population on fluorescence decay of tyrosine, phenylalanine and their derivatives

Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out on tyrosine and phenylalanine and their derivatives with various terminal groups to determine the populations of side-chain rotamers. The obtained populations were compared with those calculated from fluorescence-decay lifetime distributions and NMR studies. It was found that theoretically calculated populations do not match the experimental ones, which suggests that the static rotamer model is inadequate to explain the dynamics of tyrosine and phenylalanine side chain in fluorescence and NMR experiments.