Please cite this article as: Francesco Crea, Concetta De Stefano, Nunziatina Porcino, Silvio Sammartano, Sequestering ability of phytate towards protonated BPEI and other polyammonium cations in aqueous solution, Biophysical Chemistry (2008Chemistry ( ), doi: 10.1016Chemistry ( /j.bpc.2008 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
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AbstractThe interaction between protonated branched poly(ethylenimine) [BPEI] and phytate (1,2,3,4,5,6 hexakis (di-hydrogen phosphate) myo-inositol) [Phy] was studied potentiometrically. The measurements were carried out at t = 25 °C and at low ionic strength values, without addition of supporting electrolyte, to avoid interferences with other anions and cations. In order to simplify the data treatment, BPEI was considered as a simple tetramine. Different species Phy(BPEI)H j , with j = 6,7,8, and Phy(BPEI) 2 H 7 were found, having quite high stability. The ability of phytate to sequester BPEI was quantified by considering the parameter pL 50 , namely the concentration (-log [Phy] tot ) necessary to bind 50% of polyammonium cation (as trace). In our experimental conditions, for the system phytate-BPEI-proton we have pL 50 = 7.01, at pH = 7.4 and I = 0.04 mol L -1 . As for other phytate-polyammonium cation systems, the stability of the phytate-BPEI species is strictly proportional to the charges involved in the formation reactions. Therefore, it was possible to calculate the free energy contribution per bond, 0 b G Δ = 4.4±0.4 kJ mol -1 . The dependence on temperature and ionic strength of the stability of phytate-low/high molecular weight polyammonium cations species, was studied using some semiempirical equations and enthalpy data for the protonation of both components. The dependence on temperature of the stability is quite low and the variation of pL 50 in the range 15 ≤ t/°C ≤ 37 is less than 0.5 log units. On the contrary, the effect of ionic strength is highly significant, with a lowering of pL 50 of ≈ 2 log units (I = 0 to 0.15 mol L -1 ).