Precise Atomic Structures of L-DOPA, Dopamine, Noradrenaline, Adrenaline, Isoprenaline, 5-HTP, Serotonin and Histamine with Bond Lengths as Exact Sums of Adjacent Atomic Radii

Author(s): Raji Heyrovska

The award of this year's Nobel Prize for researches on GPCRs brings to light the importance of the hormone and neurotransmitter molecules mentioned in the title, derived from amino acids. Presented here for the first time are their structures at the atomic level, based on the additivity of the covalent radii of adjacent atoms in bond lengths, which also holds for all the essential amino acids and many other biological molecules. The author hopes that the knowledge of the atomic structures of these compounds will bring deeper structural, chemical and geometric insights into their biochemistry leading to improved biomedical applications.

hormone and neurotransmitter molecules, amino acids, atomic structures, additivity of atomic radii, structural biology, biomedicine, pharmacology

1. Buchen, L. (2011) It’s all about the structure. Nature 476: 387-390.
2. Rasmussen, S.G. et al. (2011) a: Structure of a nanobody-stabilized active
3. state of the b2 adrenoceptor. Nature: 469, 175–180; b: Crystal structure of the b2 adrenergic
4. receptor–Gs protein complex. Nature: 477, 549–555.
5. Granier, S. et al. (2008) Mechanisms of signal transduction. J. Biol. Chem.: 282, 13895-905
6. Heyrovska, R. & Narayan, S. (2009) Atomic structures of molecules based on additivity of atomic and/or ionic radii. Nature Precedings, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.3292.1; http://precedings.nature.com/documents/3292/version/1
7. Heyrovska, R. (2008) a: Structures of the molecular components in DNA and RNA with bond lengths interpreted as sums of atomic covalent radii. The Open Structural Biology Journal: 2, 1-7; b: Atomic structures of the molecular components in DNA and RNA based on bond lengths as sums of atomic radii. http://arxiv.org/abs/0708.1271v4
8. Heyrovska, R. (2008). Atomic structures of all the twenty essential amino acids and a tripeptide, with bond lengths as sums of atomic covalent radii
9. http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.2488v3
10. Heyrovska, R. (2006). Dependence of the length of the hydrogen bond on the covalent and cationic radii of hydrogen, and additivity of bonding distances. Chem. Phys. Letts.: 432, 348 - 351
11. Lehninger, A.L. Principles of Biochemistry (Worth Publishers, Inc., NY, 1st edn., 1975; 3rd edn., 2000)
12. Pauling L. The Nature of the Chemical Bond (Cornell Univ. Press, NY, 1960)
13. Andersen, A.M. a: (1975). Structural studies of metabolic products of Dopamine. III. Crystal and molecular structure of (-)-Adrenaline. Acta. Chem. Scand.: B 29, 239-244.b: (1975). Structural studies of meatbolic products of Dopamine. IV. Crystal and molecular structure of (-)-Noradrenaline. Acta. Chem. Scand.: B 29, 871-876
14. Malone, J.F. & Parvez, M. (1987). Crystal and molecular structure of Isopreanline. Polyhedron 6, 25-27
15. Lee, D.R. et al. (2011). Theoretical investigation of the conformational
16. intricacies and thermodynamic functions of noradrenaline. Can. J. Chem. 89: 1010–1020.
17. Goodall, M. & Kirshner, N. (1957). Biosynthesis of adrenaline and noradrenaline in vitro. J. Biol. Chem.: 226, 213-221
18. Burkhard, P. et al. (2001). Structural insight into Parkinson's disease treatment from drug-inhibited DOPA decarboxylase. Nature Structural Biology: 8, 963 - 967
19. Walther D.J. et al. (2003). Synthesis of serotonin by a second tryptophan hydroxylase isoform. Science: 299, 76