Enhanced Stability of the Model Mini-protein in Amino Acid Ionic Liquids and Their Aqueous Solutions

Using molecular dynamics simulations, the structure of model mini-protein was thoroughly characterized in the imidazolium-based amino acid ionic liquids and their aqueous solutions. We report that the mini-protein is more stable when AAIL is added as a cosolvent. Complete substitution of water by organic cations and anions further results in hindered conformational flexibility of the mini-protein. This observation suggests that AAILs are able to defend proteins from thermally induced denaturation. We show by means of radial distributions that the mini-protein is efficiently solvated by both solvents due to agood mutual miscibility. However, amino acid based anions prevail in the first coordination sphere of the mini-protein.