Acid-base properties of lyophilized powders of L-histidine have been systematically investigated using parent solutions at pH varying from 1.8 to 10. For the first time, high-resolution solid-state 13C NMR was shown to allow separate observation of all three acid-base pairs in the successive deprotonations of the carboxylic end, the imidazolium cation, and the terminal ammonio group of histidine. 1H CRAMPS NMR spectra directly visualize the absence of the N3-H(pi) tautomer in neutral and anionic species. Solid-state titration shifts are enlarged by approximately 1-4 ppm with respect to those measured in solution, permitting unambiguous observation of conjugate acid-base pairs. Calculated pK's from solid-state acid-to-base ratios r are found equal to those classically measured in solution at 0 degrees C with a similar ionic strength of 0.1 mol x dm(-3). This proves that natural-abundance 13C solid-state determinations of r can be used to measure pK's in parent solutions without recourse to full titration curves and subsequent curve-fitting procedures. Such an approach also leads to noninvasive characterizations of the acidity of lyophilized powders, i.e., to the prediction of in situ pH of products obtained after rehydration and solubilization of powders. These results show the possibility of measuring the pK of nonvolatile acidic substrates dissolved in any sublimable solvent through lyophilization of the investigated solutions; this leads the way to pH and pK determinations when electrochemical or spectrophotometric measurements are impossible or ambiguous, e.g., for concentrated solutions, polyacids, or mixtures of acidic solutes, and possibly to the establishment of pK scales in nonaqueous solvents and in melts.

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The macro- and microprotonations of glycylglycylhistamine (GGHA) have been determined by combined potentiometric and 1H-NMR methods. The complexation of GGHA with Co(II), Ni(II), and Cu(II) has been studied by potentiometric, EPR, and 1H-NMR methods. In the pH range 3−11.2, more or less deprotonated monomeric complexes (MLH, ML, MLH- 1, MLH- 2, MLH- 3) formed in all systems. In the case of Ni(II) and Cu(II) at physiological pH, the MLH- 2 species is predominant with four nitrogen coordination sites (one amino, two peptide, and one imidazole-N3 nitrogens) in square planar arrangement. In Co(II) containing systems however, CoL is the predominant complex near pH 7 with a macrochelate coordination of terminal amino and imidazole nitrogens, while CoLH- 2 species forms at much higher pH. In accordance with NMR measurements, the formation of MLH- 3 species can be assigned to the further deprotonation of the N1-pyrrolic nitrogen in the imidazole ring without metal coordination. The formation constants determined were compared with those of the analogous histidine derivatives. Single-crystal X-ray analysis of CuLH- 2·3H2O verified the expected four nitrogen coordination in the equatorial plane of Cu(II).

Equilibrium (pH-metric) and spectroscopic (1H,13C, and 119Sn NMR and 119Sn Mössbauer) studies were performed to characterize the interaction of the dimethyltin(IV) cation with glycine, glycyl-glycine (Gly-Gly), imidazole-4-acetic acid, histamine, histidine, glycyl-histamine, glycyl-histidine (Gly-His), and β-alanyl-histidine (carnosine). For histamine and glycyl-histamine (having only nitrogen donor atoms) no complex formation was detected. The hydrolyzed species of the dimethyltin(IV) cation are always dominant over the complexes formed with the other ligands, except with Gly-Gly and Gly-His. For these two ligands, {COO-,N-,NH2} coordinated complexes are dominant in the neutral pH range with a trigonal bipyramidal structure, providing the first example that alkyltin(IV) cations are able to promote the deprotonation of the peptide-nitrogen in aqueous solutions, at unexpectedly low pH. In this process the carboxylate is the anchoring group (assisting by chelate formation), in contrast with any other metal ions which are known to coordinate to amide nitrogen. The metal coordination of the imidazole ring, which is suggested as binding site toward alkyltin(IV) cation in several proteins, was not observed for Gly-His under the conditions used; it is probably the case for the other ligands, too.