Acid dissociation constants of glycopeptides

Glycopeptides containing mainly four amino acid residues in the sequence Asn-Leu-Thr-Ser, with small amounts of additional amino acid residues, were isolated from enzymic hydrolysates of hen's-egg albumin. Heterogeneity of the carbohydrate moiety was confirmed. Acid-base titrations showed that the alpha-amino group has a pKa value of 6.43 at 25 degrees C. The standard free engery and entropy changes associated with the ionization at 25 degrees C were 37.2kJ-mol-1 and -0.014kJ-mol-1- K-1 respectively. The complications arising in the interpretation of titration curves of the glycopeptides, which are heterogeneous with respect to the peptide chain, were considered and discussed in the light of the earlier suggestion that the titration curve of the glycopeptide might be interpreted as being due in part to a structure in which the hydroxyl group of the threonine residue is hydrogen-bonded to the beta-aspartamido oxygen atom [Neuberger & Marshall (1968) in Symposium on Foods - Carbohydrates and their Roles (Schultz, H.W., Cain, R.F. & Wrolstad, R.W., eds.), pp. 115-132, Avi Publishing Co., Westport, CT]. It is concluded that either the glycopeptides do not contain a hydrogen bond of that type, or, if they do, that it cannot be recognized by acid-base-titration studies.