Electrophoretic and spectroscopic characterization of the protein patterns formed in different surfactant solutions

The complexations between catalase and the sodium perfluorooctanoate/sodium octanoate and sodium perfluorooctanoate/sodium dodecanoate systems have been studied by a combination of electrophoresis and spectroscopy measurements. The numbers of adsorption sites on the protein were determined from the observed increases of the zeta-potential as a function of surfactant concentration in the regions where the adsorption was a consequence of the hydrophobic effect. The Gibbs energies of adsorption of the surfactants onto the protein were evaluated and the results show that for all systems, Gibbs energies are negative and larger, in absolute values, at low values of surfactant concentration where binding to the high energy sites takes place, and become less negative as more surfactant molecules bind, suggesting a saturation process. The role of hydrophobic interactions in these systems has been demonstrated to be the predominant. Spectroscopy measurements suggest conformational changes on catalase depending on the surfactant mixture as well as the mixed ratio. No isosbestic point or shifts have been found showing that catalase has spectrophotometrically one kind of binding site for these surfactant mixtures.