Under proper control, oxidation of proteins with known chemical structure provides an accurate and absolute method for the determination of their molar concentration.

Oxidation at 120 degrees C of inorganic and organic (including amino acids, di- and tripeptides) model compounds by K(2)Cr(2)O(7) in the presence of H(2)SO(4) (mass fraction: 0.572), Ag(2)SO(4) (catalyst), and HgSO(4) results in the quantitative conversion of their C-atoms into CO(2) within 24 h or less. Under these stressed, well-defined conditions, the S-atoms present in cysteine and cystine residues are oxidized into SO(3) while, interestingly, the oxidation states of all the other (including the N-) atoms normally present in a protein do remain quite unchanged. When the chemical structure of a given protein is available, the total number of electrons the protein is able to transfer to K(2)Cr(2)O(7) and thereof, the total number of moles of Cr(3+) ions which the protein is able to generate upon oxidation can be accurately calculated. In such cases, unknown protein molar concentrations can thus be determined through straightforward spectrophotometric measurements of Cr(3+) concentrations. The values of molar absorption coefficients for several well-characterized proteins have been redetermined on this basis and observed to be in excellent agreement with the most precise values reported in the literature, which fully assesses the validity of the method. When applied to highly purified proteins of known chemical structure (more generally of known atomic composition), this method is absolute and accurate (+/-1%). Furthermore, it is well adapted to series measurements since available commercial kits for chemical oxygen demand (COD) measurements can readily be adapted to work under the experimental conditions recommended here for the protein assay.

Reversible modification of thiol-containing polypeptides with poly (ethylene glycol) through formation of mixed disulfide bonds. The case of papaya proteinase III.

Papaya proteinase III (PPIII) was purified, as the S-methylthio derivative from the latex of Carica papaya L., by ion-exchange chromatography. Separation of reactivable PPIII from the irreversibly oxidized molecular species of this enzyme was readily achieved after a selective conversion of the reactivated proteinase into the S-monomethoxypoly(ethylene glycol)thio derivative (S-mPEG thio PPIII). From this derivative, a PPIII preparation titrating 1 mol of thiol/mol of enzyme was regenerated. From the physicochemical properties of S-mPEG thio PPIII that were investigated, it is concluded that interactions between the mPEG and the PPIII chains occur only to a limited extent. In addition to its usefulness for purifying thiol-containing enzymes, the mPEG modification resulting from mixed disulfide bond formation may find other practical applications.

Quantitative determination of polyethylene glycol based upon its salting out and partitioning of a dye into the resulting aqueous two-phase system.

A method is described that allows quantitative determination of polyethylene glycol (PEG) concentrations by spectrophotometric measurement of fluorescein dye absorbance after its partitioning into an aqueous two-phase system containing mPEG (M(r) 5 kDa) in the upper phase and ammonium sulfate in the lower phase. The absorbance decrease of fluorescein in the lower phase is directly proportional to the mPEG concentration, with two proportionality constants equal to 4.42 x 10(5) and 2.84 x 10(5) M-1 cm-1 in the range of 0-0.4 and 0.4-1 microM, respectively. This experimental technique can be extended to PEGs of other molecular weights by means of calibration curves that give for each size of PEG the adequate proportionality constants. The results indicate that the quantitative determination is not affected by the presence of many substances such as proteins, reducing agents, and salts, at the usual concentrations.

Preparation and preliminary characterization of poly(ethylene glycol)-pepstatin conjugate.

The carboxyl function of pepstatin has been coupled, through an amide bond, to methoxypoly(ethylene glycol) (5 kDa), to which an amino function had been previously grafted. The mPEG-pepstatin conjugate inhibits hog pepsin (aspartic proteinase) in vitro as pepstatin itself, however, with a 400 times higher apparent Ki. The conjugate apparently does not inhibit proteinases belonging to other proteinase families such as serine (trypsin, carboxypeptidase Y), cysteine (Papaya proteinase III), or metallo (collagenase) proteinases.