Abstract
Non‐enzymatic glycation (Maillard reaction) of long‐lived proteins is a major contributor to the pathology of diabetes, and possibly aging and Alzheimer's disease. Among the amino residues in proteins arginine plays an important role, and its modification by sugar moieties generates the so‐called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Moreover, α‐dicarbonyl compounds have been found as the main participants in those modifications.
Four α‐dicarbonyl compounds, aldehydic and ketonic, were reacted with the modified amino acid N~α~ ‐acetyl‐L‐arginine (AcArg), in an attempt to establish structure/activity relationships for the reactivity of α‐dicarbonyls with the amine compound. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS), combined with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), was used to identify and characterize reagents, intermediates and reaction products. The fragmentation patterns of precursor ions showed similarities in all reaction systems studied, in which fragmentation of the amino acid residue prevails, especially for the dehydrated and/or multiple dehydrated precursor ions. For the non‐hydrated ion species, fragmentation of the arginyl guanidino group was mainly observed. Specific information regarding the nature of the ions formed, in which the dicarbonyl electrophile character played an important role, was obtained. As an example, singly and doubly hydrated acetyl‐argpyrimidine ions were detected for the methylglyoxal reaction only. For symmetrical dicarbonyls, glyoxal and diacetyl, the importance of steric contributions with respect to the energetic ones is discussed. Furthermore, the dehydrated acetyl‐tetrahydropyrimidine ions for methylglyoxal and phenylglyoxal reactions revealed fragment ion compositions including the protonated molecules of acetyl‐argpyrimidine, ‐hydroimidazolone and ‐5‐methylimidazolone. An explanation for the acetyl‐argpyrimidine formation from the acetyl‐hydroimidazolone formation reaction is proposed. Aspects such as the amount of acetyl‐hydroimidazolone formed, the response of the hydration equilibria of the dicarbonyl forms to the new unhydrated dicarbonyls introduced by the reversal of the acetyl‐hydroimidazolone formation reaction and the stability of the dicarbonyl intermediate involved in the acetyl‐argpyrimidine formation are proposed, as being responsible to control the formation of acetyl‐argpyrimidine. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.