Role of chemical structure in molecular recognition by transferrin

Studies of molecular recognition of chiral compounds by proteins are of importance from many points of view. The biological role of proteins in their interaction with small molecules is of fundamental interest and can be used in many different fields, for instance for in vitro analysis of optically active compounds. Studies in these areas need a detailed study of the interaction sites on the protein surface and the relationship between chemical structure and the complex formation ability of small molecules, such as drugs. The electrophoretic migration of charged compounds through a protein zone may provide information about the surface properties of the macromolecule in the interaction site. The interaction of human serum transferrin with tryptophan-methyl- (TME), ethyl- (TEE) and butyl-esters (TBE) has been investigated by capillary electrophoresis (CE) and model calculations. Differences in the separation of tryptophan derivatives were obtained by varying experimental parameters such as, pH, ionic strength of background electrolyte and the length of transferrin zone. Limited separation of the enantiomer pairs were observed at pH 5 and 7 with a maximum resolution at pH 6. The size of the ligands coupled to the chiral centre has importance in stereoselective recognition; however, a direct comparison of resolution different in same runs may lead to false conclusion if the experimental conditions are not comparable. With a careful evaluation of the data we obtained significant differences between the resolution of the smallest enantiomer pair compared to those of tryptophan derivatives with longer alkyl chains.