Amino Acid Mean Excitation Energies and Directional Dependencies from Core and Bond Calculations

We determine the mean excitation energies of several amino acids using a Bragg Rule developed for molecular fragments or functional groups. As the composition of the amino acids is very similar, we find that the amino acids have similar mean excitation energies (approximately 70 eV). Differences arise from variation of the side chains (-R); addition of-CH2-groups decreases the mean excitation energy. We also speculate concerning the directional dependence of the amino acid mean excitation energies.