Abstract
IT has recently been reported1 that liquid anhydrous fluoride is a powerful solvent for a wide variety of proteins. It has now been found that the lower perfluoro-aliphatic carboxylic acids possess solvent properties for proteins very similar to those of hydrogen fluoride. Thus it has been observed that trifluoroacetic acid (m.p. – 15.6° C, b.p. 72° C.) readily dissolves the proteins lysozyme, ribonuclease, trypsin, pepsin, crystallized egg albumin, bovine plasma albumin, bovine plasma globulin, edestin, peanut protein globulin, casein, zein, urease, uricase, blood fibrin, insulin, silk fibroin, hide collagen and rat-tail tendon. Solutions in the concentration-range 20–30 mgm./ml. of the above proteins can easily be prepared at 25° C. Solutions of proteins in trifluoroacetic acid prepared in vacuo are clear and colourless; on exposure to air, a purple colour develops. Cytochrome c, hæmoglobin and catalaes are also soluble; solutions of these iron-containing proteins are browner in colour than are the corresponding solutions in hydrogen fluoride.
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Nature, 173, 265 (1954); Arch. Biochem. Biophys. (in the press).
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KATZ, J. Anhydrous Trifluoroacetic Acid as a Solvent for Proteins. Nature 174, 509 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/174509a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/174509a0
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