THE COMBINATION OF COPPER WITH AMINO ACIDS, PEPTIDES, AND PROTEINS

By equilibrating solutions containing amino acids, peptides, or proteins with the sparingly soluble copper salt malachite (CuCO3.Cu(OH)2), it has been possible to determine the amount of copper in the solutions complexed to these compounds, and the amount of free copper in the solutions in equilibrium with the complex. The dissociation constant for the copper–glycine complex has been estimated from the data obtained using this system. The nature of the complexes has been deduced both from chemical determinations of the bound copper, and from manometric measurements of the extent of complexing, made in bicarbonate buffers. The simple amino acids have been shown to form complexes of the type CuR2, which are appreciably dissociated in dilute solutions. The degree of complexing is influenced by the nature of the group R. Histidine, tryptophane, and other compounds containing more than one donor nitrogen atom are able to form more than one type of complex with copper. The participation of other nitrogen atoms in complexing is related to their basicities. Glycylglycine is able to bind approximately twice as much copper as glycine, but the other glycine peptides from triglycine to pentaglycine show a reduced and progressively decreasing ability to bind copper.The binding of copper to proteins differs from that of the amino acids, in that the amount of copper bound is independent of the concentration of protein present, for any given concentration of free copper. The several atoms of copper bound to each protein molecule were not all bound with the same affinity.

THE COMBINATION OF COPPER WITH AMINO ACIDS, PEPTIDES, AND PROTEINS

By equilibrating solutions containing amino acids, peptides, or proteins with the sparingly soluble copper salt malachite (CuCO3.Cu(OH)2), it has been possible to determine the amount of copper in the solutions complexed to these compounds, and the amount of free copper in the solutions in equilibrium with the complex. The dissociation constant for the copper–glycine complex has been estimated from the data obtained using this system. The nature of the complexes has been deduced both from chemical determinations of the bound copper, and from manometric measurements of the extent of complexing, made in bicarbonate buffers. The simple amino acids have been shown to form complexes of the type CuR2, which are appreciably dissociated in dilute solutions. The degree of complexing is influenced by the nature of the group R. Histidine, tryptophane, and other compounds containing more than one donor nitrogen atom are able to form more than one type of complex with copper. The participation of other nitrogen atoms in complexing is related to their basicities. Glycylglycine is able to bind approximately twice as much copper as glycine, but the other glycine peptides from triglycine to pentaglycine show a reduced and progressively decreasing ability to bind copper.The binding of copper to proteins differs from that of the amino acids, in that the amount of copper bound is independent of the concentration of protein present, for any given concentration of free copper. The several atoms of copper bound to each protein molecule were not all bound with the same affinity.