[Aggregation Behavior of Collagen-Based Surfactant Molecules in Aqueous Solutions Based on Synchronization...

Due to the intrinsic fluorescence characteristic of tyrosine (Tyr) and phenylalanine (Phe), synchronization fluorescence spectrum technology which adopted the constant wavelength difference (Δλ = 15 nm) was selected to investigate the effects of collagen-based surfactant (CBS) concentration, pH, NaCt concentration and temperature on the aggregation state of CBS molecules in aqueous solutions. Meanwhile, temperature-dependent two-dimensional (2D) synchronization fluorescence correlation analyses was used to investigate the variation order of Tyr and Phe residues in CBS molecules with the change of temperature. The results showed that the characteristic absorption peaks located at 261 and 282 nm were attributed to Phe and Tyr, respectively. With the increase of CBS concentration, the amount of Phe and Tyr residues increased gradually which resulted in the increase of aggregate degree of CBS molecules and then led to the increase of fluorescence intensity. When the pH value (pH 5.0) of CBS solutions was close to the isoelectric point of CBS, the aggregate degree of CBS molecules increased due to the increase of the hydrophobic interaction and the formation ability of hydrogen bond. Additionally, with the increase of NaCl concentration, the repulsion force for inter/intra-molecules of CBS decreased, which helped to improve the aggregation behavior of CBS molecules. However, with the increase of temperature, the aggregation state of CBS was changed to be monomolecular state, and then resulted in the decrease of the fluorescence intensity gradually due to the quenching, the denaturation and the decrease of hydrogen bond formation ability. Furthermore, temperature-dependent 2D synchronization fluorescence correlation spectroscopy demonstrated that at lower temperature (10-40 degrees C), the aggregate state of CBS changed to be loose state and then Phe residues located in the inside of the aggregate varied before Tyr residues; while in the heating process of 45-70 degrees C, the monomolecular state of CBS changed to be random coil conformation, the separation distance between Tyr residues increased and the hydrogen bond formation ability reduced strongly, which led to Tyr residues changed before Phe residues.