In situ circular dichroic electrochemical study of bilirubin and bovine serum albumin complex

ECD spectroelectrochemistry: A review

The electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectroscopy is probably the most important chiraloptical method, and the role of chirality in contemporary chemistry, pharmacy, and material science constantly increases. On the other hand, the electrochemical methods are also very sensitive tools for studying multivarious redox processes. Nevertheless, the first ECD spectroelectrochemical (SEC) study was only published by Daub, Salbeck and Aurbach in 1988, and since then, the ECD SEC method has been mentioned in only thirty papers. By the summer of 2020, the ECD SEC studies were mainly focused around molecular systems for organic, and marginally, inorganic chiroptical switching studies of biochemical redox reactions. The review provides more details about the ECD SEC studies carried out so far. At the end, we suggest some future applications for the ECD spectroelectrochemistry.

Molecular Interaction of Amino Acid-Based Gemini Surfactant with Human Serum Albumin: Tensiometric, Spectroscopic, and Molecular Docking Study

Binding effect and interaction of N,N'-dialkyl cystine based gemini surfactant (GS); 2(C₁₂Cys) with human serum albumin (HSA) were systematically investigated by the techniques such as surface tension measurement, UV-visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and molecular docking studies. The surface tension measurement exhibited that HSA shifted the critical micelle concentration of the 2(C₁₂Cys) GS to the higher side that confirms the complex formation among 2(C₁₂Cys) GS and HSA which was also verified by UV-visible, fluorescence, and CD spectroscopy. Increase in the concentration of 2(C₁₂Cys) GS increases the absorption of the HSA protein but has a reverse effect on the fluorescence intensity. The analysis of UV-visible study with the help of a static quenching method showed that the value acquired for the bimolecular quenching constant (k _q) quenches the intrinsic fluorescence of the HSA protein. Synchronous fluorescence spectrometry declared that the induced-binding conformational changes in HSA and CD results explained the variations in the secondary arrangement of the protein in presence of 2(C₁₂Cys) GS. The present study revealed that the interaction between 2(C₁₂Cys) GS and HSA is important for the preparation and properties of medicines. Molecular docking study provides insight into the specific binding site of 2(C₁₂Cys) GS into the sites of HSA.

Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer, Small-Angle Neutron Scattering, and Dynamic Light Scattering Study on Interactions of Gemini Surfactants Having Different Spacer Groups with Protein at Various Regions of Binding Isotherms

The binding interactions of three gemini surfactants having different spacer groups (12-4-12, 12-8-12, and 12-4(OH)-12) with a high concentration (150 μM) of bovine serum albumin (BSA) at various regions of binding isotherms have been studied by means of steady-state fluorescence and fluorescence anisotropy, time-correlated single-photon counting fluorescence of trans-2-[4-(dimethylamino)styryl]benzothiazole, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements. The fluorescence resonance energy transfer phenomenon between the twisted intramolecular charge transfer fluorescent molecule, trans-2-[4-(dimethylamino)styryl]benzothiazole as an acceptor, and tryptophan 213 (Trp-213) of BSA as a donor has been successfully used to probe the binding interactions of gemini surfactants with protein at all regions of binding isotherms. The increasing order of energy transfer efficiency at a higher concentration range of surfactants is 12-8-12 > 12-4-12 > 12-4(OH)-12. Stronger binding of micelles of gemini surfactant molecules having a comparatively more hydrophobic spacer group with the hydrophobic segments of the protein results in closer approach of trans-2-[4-(dimethylamino)styryl]benzothiazole molecules solubilized in micelles to Trp-213. The average excited-state lifetimes become shorter with a trend of increase in contribution from the fast component and decrease in contribution from the slow component to the decay with increasing concentration of a surfactant. The nonradiative rate constant of trans-2-[4-(dimethylamino)styryl]benzothiazole increases with increasing concentration of a surfactant because the average microenvironment around it in protein-surfactant aggregates is more polar as compared to that in native protein. SANS and DLS measurements were carried out for the study of the structural deformations in the protein, on enhancement of the concentration of the gemini surfactants. The necklace and bead model has been used for the analysis of SANS data for the protein-surfactant complexes. At a higher concentration range, 12-8-12 and 12-4-12 have a slightly smaller fractal dimension and a larger correlation length as compared to 12-4(OH)-12. DLS data show that the increasing order of hydrodynamic diameter for the complexes of protein with three gemini surfactants in their high concentration range is 12-4(OH)-12 < 12-4-12 < 12-8-12.

Surfactant-Amino Acid and Surfactant-Surfactant Interactions in Aqueous Medium: a Review

An overview of surfactant-amino acid interactions mainly in aqueous medium has been discussed. Main emphasis has been on the solution thermodynamics and solute-solvent interactions. Almost all available data on the topic has been presented in a lucid and simple way. Conventional surfactants have been discussed as amphiphiles forming micelles and amino acids as additives and their effect on the various physicochemical properties of these conventional surfactants. Surfactant-surfactant interactions in aqueous medium, various mixed surfactant models, are also highlighted to assess their interactions in aqueous medium. Finally, their applied part has been taken into consideration to interpret their possible uses.

Study on the structural changes of bovine serum albumin with effects on polydatin binding by a multitechnique approach

Polydatin is a traditional Chinese medicine which shows effective biological activity as antimicrobial and antiviral agent. The secondary structure changes of bovine serum albumin (BSA) were investigated by the methods of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), circular dichroism (CD) and Raman spectroscopy. The experimental results indicated that polydatin changed the secondary structure of BSA. The presence of polydatin decreased α-helix content of BSA. The conformations of disulfide bridges and the microenvironment of Tyr, Trp residues were also changed.

Analysis of local polarity change around Cys34 in bovine serum albumin during N-->B transition by a polarity-sensitive fluorescence probe

The change trend of the local environment of Cys34 domain in bovine serum albumin has been studied as a function of pH value by using thiol-specific and polarity-sensitive fluorescent probe 3-(4-chloro-6-p-maleimidylphenoxyl-1,3,5-triazinylamino)-7-dimethylamino-2-methyl-phenazine. The local polarity of the Cys34 domain is found to rise with the increase of pH values, and the corresponding dielectric constant is raised from 12.8 at pH 6.0 to 23.3 at pH 9.1. The result shows that the environment of the Cys34 domain is rather hydrophobic in normal state at pH 6.0 and becomes a little hydrophilic in the course of N-->B transition, which may be attributed to the slight unfolding of the protein and thus the increasing of exposure of the previously relatively buried Cys34. In addition, the increased dielectric constant (23.3) is much lower than that (80.1) of water, suggesting that the unfolding of bovine serum albumin does not cause the full exposure of the Cys34 to the aqueous media during the transition.

Interaction between Proteins and Cationic Gemini Surfactant

Surface tension, fluorescence, and circular dichroism (CD) methods have been used to investigate the interaction between cationic gemini surfactant 1,2-ethane bis(dimethyldodecylammonium bromide) (C12C2C12) and proteins including bovine serum albumin (BSA) and gelatin. Surface tension measurements show that the complexes of gelatin--C12C2C12 form more easily than that of BSA--C12C2C12. Addition of C12C2C12 has a different effect not only on the polarity of the microenvironment in BSA and gelatin systems but also on their fluorescence spectra. It can be seen from far-UV CD spectra that the alpha-helical network of BSA is disrupted and its content decreases from 41.7% to 27.6% while the random coil content of gelatin increases from 53.0% to 55.9% with increasing C12C2C12 concentration. The results from near-UV CD spectra show that the binding of C12C2C12 induces changes of the microenvironment around the aromatic amino acid residues and disulfide bonds of BSA at high C12C2C12 concentrations.

Thermodynamic Insights into the Binding of Triton X-100 to Globular Proteins: A Calorimetric and Spectroscopic Investigation

The interaction of the nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 (TX-100) with two proteins (bovine serum albumin (BSA) and alpha-lactalbumin (alpha-LA)) has been investigated by using a combination of differential scanning calorimetry, isothermal titration calorimetry, and fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopies. All of the calorimetric transitions in BSA were partially reversible, while being two-state and reversible in the case of alpha-LA. TX-100 molecules do not reduce the thermal stability of the protein in the monomeric form. However, in the micellar form the protein might become thermally destabilized by the micelles depending upon the nature of the protein. Isothermal titration calorimetry has been used to demonstrate that TX-100 binds to BSA at two sets of sites with 4:1 stoichiometry in each case. The van't Hoff enthalpy calculated from the temperature dependence of the binding constant did not match with the calorimetric enthalpy indicating conformational change in the protein upon surfactant binding. The surfactant binds to alpha-LA with one class of binding site, and the thermal unfolding results indicate it to be a stronger destabilizer than BSA. The fluorescence, circular dichroism, and differential scanning calorimetric results corroborate well with each other. The effect of ionic strength on the binding parameters suggests that TX-100 can bind to the protein surface via both hydrophobic and polar interactions depending upon the nature of the protein. The physical chemistry underlying the interactions between TX-100 and proteins has been presented. The mode of interaction of TX-100 with proteins is via direct binding, which has been discussed quantitatively in this work.

Quenching of the intrinsic fluorescence of bovine serum albumin by phenylfluorone–Mo(VI) complex as a probe

In this paper, the binding characteristics of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and phenylfluorone (PF)-molybdenum (Mo(VI)) complex have been studied by fluorophotometry. The binding constants are calculated at different temperatures. The binding distance and the energy transfer efficiency between PF-Mo(VI) complex and protein are obtained on the basis of the theory of Forster energy transfer. DeltaH and DeltaS are calculated to be -7.11 kJ mol-1 and 70.30 J mol-1 K-1, which indicate that electrostatic force plays major role in the interaction of PF-Mo(VI) complex and BSA. The experimental results show that BSA and PF-Mo(VI) complex have strong interactions and the mechanism of quenching belongs to static quenching.