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While a rich database is available at or near room temperature (288.15 to 298.15 K) defining the chemical equilibria of solutions containing the copper(II) ion and an amino acid, data describing the temperature dependence of reaction thermodynamics for these systems remain scarce. In addition, data defining enthalpy, entropy, and heat capacity changes for the formation of mixed amino acid chelate complexes are extremely limited, hindering our understanding of the driving forces for complex formation and stabilization. Here, protonation constants and concentration-based equilibrium constants for Cu(II)amino acid complexes are reported from 288.15 to 348.15 K for leucine, valine, proline, phenylalanine, and hydroxyproline in aqueous solutions containing 0.1 M KNO 3 . The logarithmic (ln) values of the protonation and binary stepwise concentration equilibrium constants (K i ) for each amino acid ligand are found to be linearly dependent on the inverse of temperature, indicating negligible change in heat capacity for each of these protonation and complexation reactions. However, ln(K i ) data for ternary complexes formed between Cu(II), L-hydroxyproline, and any one of the other amino acid enantiomers show a nonlinear dependence on inverse temperature, indicating a negative change in heat capacity. Enthalpy and entropy changes for ternary complex formation are therefore temperature-dependent quantities. Our thermodynamic data, when combined with statistical analysis of reaction stoichiometry, reveal that ternary Cu(II)(D′ or L′)(L-hydroxyproline) complexes are consistently hyperstable as compared to their parent bisbinary complexes at all solution temperatures studied.

Ferric binding protein in Neisseria gonorrhoeae (nFbpA) transports iron from outer membrane receptors for host proteins across the periplasm to a permease in an alternative pathway to the use of siderophores in some pathogenic bacteria. Phosphate and nitrilotriacetate, both at pH 8, and vanadate at pH 9 are shown to be synergistic in promoting ferric binding to nFbpA, in contrast to carbonate and sulfate. Interestingly, only phosphate produces the fully closed conformation of nFbpA as defined by native electrophoresis. The role of phosphate was probed by constructing three mutants: Q58E, Q58R, and G140H. The anion and iron binding properties of the Q58E mutant are similar to the wild-type protein, implying that one phosphate oxygen is a hydrogen bond donor and may in part define the specificity of nFbpA for phosphate over sulfate. Phosphate is a weakly synergistic anion in the Q58R and G140H mutants, and these mutants do not form completely closed structures. Ferric binding was investigated by both isothermal titration and differential scanning calorimetry. The apparent affinity of nFbpA for iron in a solution of 30 mM citrate is 1 order of magnitude larger in the presence (K(app)= 1.7 x 10(5) M(-1)) of phosphate than in its absence (K(app) = 1.6 x 10(4) M(-1)) at pH 7. Similar results were obtained at pH 8. This increase in affinity with phosphate as well as the formation of closed structure allows nFbpA to compete for free ferric ions in solution and suggests that ferric binding to nFbpA is regulated by the synergistic phosphate anion at sites of iron uptake.