Atomic and bond topological properties of the tripeptide l-alanyl-l-alanyl-l-alanine based on its experimental charge density obtained at 20 K

A 20 K high resolution X-ray data set of l-Ala-l-Ala-l-Ala*1/2 H ₂O was measured using an ultra-low temperature laboratory setup, that combines area detection and a closed cycle helium cryostat. The charge density determination includes integration of atomic basins and topological analysis according to Bader's quantum theory of atoms in molecules. Two tripeptide units are found in the asymmetric unit, allowing the assessment of transferability of bond topological and atomic properties taking also into consideration previous data of oligopeptides. With respect to invariom modeling the limits of such transferability are investigated and the results of this study show the validity of the nearest/next-nearest neighbour approximation and support the use of database approaches for electron density modeling of macromolecules.