A multinuclear NMR relaxation study of the interaction of divalent metal ions with L-aspartic acid.

ABSTRACT

Carbon-13 spin-lattice relaxation times, T1, have been measured for aqueous solutions of L-aspartic acid, L-alanine, O-phospho-L-serine, and 2-mercapto-L-succinic acid in the presence of the paramagnetic metal ions, Cu2+ and Mn2+, and Mg2+ as a diamagnetic control, at ambient temperature and neutral pH. Nitrogen-15, oxygen-17 and proton relaxation times were also obtained for L-aspartic acid and phosphorus-31 relaxation times for O-phospho-L-serine under similar conditions. The structures of these complexes in solution were determined from the various metal ion-nuclei distances calculated from the paramagnetically-induced relaxation. These results indicate that the Cu2+ interaction with L-aspartic acid is through alpha-amino and beta-carboxyl groups while Mn2+ coordinates most strongly through alpha- and beta-carboxyl groups, with the possibility of a weak interaction through the amino group. An examination of the coordination of these divalent metal ions to an analog of L-aspartic acid in which the beta-carboxyl group is replaced by a phosphate group (O-phospho-L-serine) indicated that Cu2+ coordination is now probably through the alpha-amino and phosphate groups, while this analog is a monodentate ligand for Mn2+ coordinating through the phosphate group. Removal of the beta-carboxyl group (L-alanine) also results in Cu2+ coordination through the alpha-carboxyl and alpha-amino groups, and the same ligand interactions are observed with Mn2+. Replacement of the alpha-amino group of L-aspartic acid with an -SH group (2-mercapto-L-succinate) is sufficient to eliminate any specific coordination with either Cu2+ or Mn2+.