A modified ferrozine method for the measurement of enzyme-bound iron

A general procedure for the determination of the iron content of enzymes by digestion with methanesulfonic acid to release protein-bound iron has been developed. This procedure replaces the tedious and potentially hazardous method of wet ashing with concentrated nitric-sulfuric-perchloric acids. The method has been used to determine the stoichiometry of iron for nanomole quantities of heme-iron proteins, iron-sulfur proteins, complex iron-sulfur proteins, as well as in phenylalanine hydroxylase, an enzyme with iron in an undetermined coordination.