On the role of solvent in complexation equilibiria. II. The acid-base chemistry of some sulfhydryl and ammonium-containing amino acids in water?acetonitrile mixed solvents

Heavy metal complexation of thiol-containing peptides from soy glycinin hydrolysates

Many thiol-containing molecules show heavy metal complexation ability and are used as antidotes. In this study, the potential function associated with thiol-containing peptides (TCPs) from soy protein hydrolysates as natural detoxicants for heavy metals is reported. TCPs enriched by Thiopropyl-Sepharose 6B covalent chromatography had different molecular weight distributions as well as different numbers of proton dissociable groups, depending on the proteases and degree of hydrolysis. The major contribution of sulfhydryl groups was confirmed by the largest pH decrease between 8.0 and 8.5 of the pH titration curves. The complexation of TCPs with heavy metalswas evaluated by stability constants (β_n) of TCP-metal complexes whose stoichiometry was found to be 1:1 (ML) and 1:2 (ML₂). TCPs from degree of hydrolysis of 25% hydrolysates gave high affinities towards Hg²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Pb²⁺ (giving similar or even bigger lgβ values than that of glutathione). A significantly positive correlation was found between the logarithm of stability constants for ML₂ (lgβ₂) and the sulfhydryl group content. Molecular weight distribution of TCPs affected the complexation with Pb²⁺ notably more than Hg²⁺ and Cd²⁺. These results suggest that soy TCPs have the potential to be used in the formulation of functional foods to counteract heavy metal accumulation in humans.

Theoretical and experimental sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopic study of cysteine, cystine, homocysteine, penicillamine, methionine and methionine sulfoxide

The experimental sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra of the amino acids cysteine, homocysteine, penicillamine, methionine, including the oxidation products methionine sulfoxide and the disulfide cystine, have been analyzed by transition potential DFT calculations. The absolute energies and intensities of the main pre-edge sulfur 1s electron transitions have been computed to determine the character of the receiving unoccupied molecular orbitals (MO), and to investigate the influence of external interactions, especially by introducing water molecules hydrogen-bonded to the ionic species present in different pH ranges. When the thiol group deprotonates for cysteine, homocysteine and penicillamine and also for the cysteine residue in glutathione the energy of the main transition, to an MO with antibonding sigma*(S-H) character, reduces by approximately 1.1 eV and the receiving MO obtains sigma*(S-C) character. The changes in transition energy due to hydrogen-bonding were in most cases found to be relatively small, although the transition intensities could vary significantly due to the changes induced in the molecular charge distribution, thereby affecting the shapes of the spectral features. For the cysteine and penicillamine zwitterions deconvolution of the experimental spectra allowed the microscopic acid dissociation constants to be extracted separately for the thiol and the protonated amine groups, pK(a)(S) = 8.5 +/- 0.1 and 8.2 +/- 0.1, and pK(a)(N) = 8.9 +/- 0.1 and 8.8 +/- 0.1, respectively, with the thiol group in both cases being the more acidic. Coordination of cysteine to nickel(II) or mercury(II) introduced a new low energy transition involving metal ion orbitals in the receiving LUMO. The small experimentally observed energy differences between the similar main absorption features of the cysteine and methionine zwitterions, 0.2-0.3 eV in comparable surrounding, as well as a minor difference in their intensities, are reflected in the calculated transitions. The S K-edge XANES spectrum of the disulfide cystine displays a characteristic double peak with the lower energy transition (2469.9 eV) into the antibonding sigma*(S-S) MO. The second peak, at 2471.5 eV in aqueous solution, contains several transitions into MOs with sigma*(S-C) character involving also charge transfer to the water molecules hydrating the protonated amine groups (NH(3)(+)) of cystine. For solid cystine without hydrogen bonding the experimental energy difference between the two peaks is 0.2 eV larger, while no such increase occurs for the oxidized disulfide of glutathione, with a similar -S-S- bond between its cysteine residues as in cystine, because the amine groups are engaged in peptide bonds. This study shows that externally induced changes in the intramolecular bonding, e.g., by coordination, conformation geometry or hydrogen-bonding, can significantly influence the S K-edge spectra, and emphasizes the importance of a similar chemical surrounding when choosing the model compounds for standard spectra of sulfur functional groups, used to deconvolute composite experimental spectra.

Mercury(II) penicillamine complex formation in alkaline aqueous solution

The complex formation between mercury(II) and penicillamine (H(2)Pen = 3,3'-dimethyl cysteine) in alkaline aqueous solutions (pH approximately 2) has been investigated with extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and 199Hg NMR spectroscopy. By varying the penicillamine concentration (C(H(2)Pen) = 0.2-1.25 M) in approximately 0.1 M Hg(II) solutions, two coexisting major species [Hg(Pen)2](2-) and [Hg(Pen)3](4-) were characterized with mean Hg-S bond distances 2.34(2) and 2.44(2) A, respectively. The [Hg(Pen)2](2-) complex with two deprotonated penicillamine ligands forms an almost linear S-Hg-S entity with two weak chelating Hg-N interactions at the mean Hg-N distance 2.52(2) A. The same type of coordination is also found for the corresponding [Hg(Cys)2](2-) complex in alkaline aqueous solution with the mean bond distances Hg-S 2.34(2) A and Hg-N 2.56(2) A. The relative amounts of the [Hg(Pen)2](2-) and [Hg(Pen)3](4-) complexes were estimated by fitting linear combinations of the EXAFS oscillations to the experimental spectra. Also their (199)Hg NMR chemical shifts were used to evaluate the complex formation, showing that the [Hg(Pen)3](4-) complex dominates already at moderate excess of the free ligand ([Pen(2-)] > approximately 0.1 M).

Soft- and hard-modeling approaches for the determination of stability constants of metal-peptide systems by voltammetry

The Zn(2+)-glutathione system is studied as a model for metal-peptide systems where some critical factors must be considered when using voltammetric techniques for the determination of stability constants. These factors are the presence of side reactions (in this case, both the protonation of glutathione and the hydrolysis of Zn(2+)), the association-dissociation rates of the complexes compared with the time scales of the measurements (which makes the complexes electrochemically labile or inert), and the electron transfer kinetics on the electrode surface (which makes the metal ion reduction reversible or irreversible). For the study of these factors, three data treatment approaches have been applied: (i) the electrochemical hard-modeling approach (modelization of both chemical equilibrium and electrochemical processes), (ii) a chemical hard-modeling approach (modelization of chemical equilibria only, based on the least-squares curve-fitting program SQUAD), and (iii) a previously developed model-free soft-modeling approach based on multivariate curve resolution with a constrained alternating least-squares optimization. By analyzing differential pulse polarographic data obtained under different experimental conditions, the influence of the mentioned factors on every approach is discussed and, if possible, the corresponding stability constants are computed. The results of this study showed the potential usefulness of voltammetry in combination with hard- and soft-modeling data analysis for the study of peptide complexation equilibria of metal ions such as Zn which have neither relevant spectroscopic properties nor proper isotopes for NMR measurements.

Variation of acidity constants of peptides in acetonitrile-water mixtures with solvent composition: effect of preferential solvation

The dissociation constant values of a series of peptides in 5.54, 10, 16.30, 25.03 and 50% (w/w) acetonitrile-water mixed solvents at 298.15 K were determined according to the criteria endorsed by IUPAC. A pronounced change in the acid-base pK values of carboxylic, phenol and thiol groups was observed as the solvent was enriched in acetonitrile. By contrast, pK values of protonated amino-terminal groups were influenced slightly as the solvent was enriched in acetonitrile, although continually increasing pK values were observed. The variation of the pK values obtained, over the whole composition ranged studies, was explained by taking into account the preferential solvation of electrolytes in acetonitrile-water mixtures. To obtain pK values in all possible binary solvent acetonitrile-water mixtures, relationships between pK values and different bulk properties were examined and the Linear Solvation Energy Relationships methodology was applied. The pKa values were then correlated with the Kamlet-Taft, phi, alpha and beta solvatochromic parameters of acetonitrile-water mixtures. The equations obtained allowed calculation of the pK values of peptides in acetonitrile-water mixtures up to 50% (w/w) and thus permitted the acid-base behavior of these substances in the widely used acetonitrile-water media to be known.

The formation of constants of mercury(II)--glutathione complexes

The formation constants of the 1:1 and 1:2 complexes of Hg(II) with glutathione and their protonated species have been determined by using a competitive potentiometric titration with the competing ligand diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA). The formation constants of the 1:1 complex and its protonated species have not been reported previously. The formation constant of the 1:2 complex of Hg(II) and glutathione is substantially smaller than the accepted values that has been reported in the literature. These results have important implications in the models that have been employed to explain the mobilization and distribution of Hg(II) in biological systems.