Determination of thermodynamic acidity constants and limiting ionic mobilities of weak electrolytes by capillary electrophoresis using a new free software AnglerFish

Thermodynamic acidity constants (acid or acid-base dissociation constants, sometimes called also as ionization constants) and limiting ionic mobilities (both of them at defined temperature, usually 25°C) are the fundamental physicochemical characteristics of a weak electrolyte, that is, weak acid or weak base or ampholyte. We introduce a novel method for determining the data of a weak electrolyte by the nonlinear regression of effective electrophoretic mobility versus buffer composition dependence when measured in a set of BGEs with various pH. To correct the experimental data for zero ionic strength we use the extended Debye-Hückel model and Onsager-Fuoss law with no simplifications. Contrary to contemporary approaches, the nonlinear regression is performed on limiting mobility data calculated by PeakMaster's correction engine, not on the raw experimental mobility data. Therefore, there is no requirement to perform all measurements at a constant ionic strength of the set of BGEs. We devised the computer program AnglerFish that performs the necessary calculations in a user-friendly fashion. All thermodynamic pKa values and limiting electrophoretic mobilities for arbitrarily charged substances having any number of ionic forms are calculated by one fit. The user input consists of the buffer composition of the set of BGEs and experimentally measured effective mobilities of the inspected weak electrolyte.     

Estimation of acidity constants,ionic mobilities and charges of antimicrobial peptides by capillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) was employed for the determination of thermodynamic acidity constants (pK_a) and actual ionic mobilities of polycationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The effective electrophoretic mobilities of AMPs were measured by CE in a series of the background electrolytes within a wide pH range (2.00–12.25), at constant ionic strength (25 mM) and ambient temperature, using polybrene coated fused silica capillaries to suppress sorption of cationic AMPs to the capillary wall. Eventually, Haarhoff–Van der Linde peak fitting function was used for the determination of correct migration times of some AMPs peaks that were distorted by electromigration dispersion. The measured effective mobilities were corrected to 25°C. Mixed acidity constants, , and actual ionic mobilities, m_i, of AMPs were determined by the nonlinear regression analysis of pH dependence of their effective mobilities. The values were recalculated to thermodynamic pK_as using the Debye–Hückel theory. Thermodynamic pK_a of imidazolium group of histidine residues was found to be in the range 3.72–4.98, pK_a of α‐NH₃⁺ group was in the range 6.14–6.93, and pK_a of ε‐NH₃⁺ group of lysine spanned the interval 7.26–9.84, depending on the particular amino acid sequence of the AMPs. Actual ionic mobilities of AMPs with positive charges from one to six elementary units achieved values (9.8 – 36.5) × 10^?9 m²V^?1s^?1.     

Determination of acid dissociation constants of flavin analogues by capillary zone electrophoresis

Acid dissociation constants (pK_a) of nine kinds of flavin analogues as molecular catalyst candidates were determined by CZE. Although some of the analogues are instable and degradable under the light exposure or in alkaline aqueous solutions, the effective electrophoretic mobility of the flavin analogue of interest has been measured with the residual substance. The pK_a values of the flavin analogues were analyzed through the changes in the effective electrophoretic mobility with varying pH of the separation buffer. One or two steps pK_a values were determined by the analysis. One of the degraded species from the flavin analogues, lumichrome, was also detected in the CZE analysis, and its pK_a values were also determined. While coexisting impurities generated over the storage conditions were found in some analogues, the pK_a values of the target analogues were successfully determined with the help of the CZE separations. A pressure-assisted CZE was utilized for the determination or the estimation of the pK_a values of such analogues as possessing carboxylic acid moiety.     

Determination of acidity constants of enolisable compounds by capillary electrophoresis

Research on the structure–activity relationships of molecules with acidic carbon atoms led us to undertake a feasibility study on the determination of their acidity constants by capillary electrophoresis (CE). The studied molecules had diverse structures and were tetronic acid, acetylacetone, diethylmalonate, Meldrums acid, 3-methylrhodanine, nitroacetic acid ethyl ester, pyrimidine-2,4,6-trione, 3-oxo-3-phenylpropionic acid ethyl ester, 1-phenylbutan-1,3-dione, 5,5-dimethylcyclohexan-1,3-dione and homophthalic anhydride. The pK_a range explored by CE was therefore very large (from 3 to 12) and pK_a values near 12 were evaluated by mathematical extrapolations. The analyses were carried out in CZE mode using a fused silica capillary grafted (or not) with hexadimethrine. Owing to the electrophoretic behaviour of these compounds according to the pH, their acidity constants could be evaluated and appeared in perfect agreement with the literature data obtained, a few decades ago, by means of potentiometry, spectrometry or conductimetry. The pK_a of homophthalic anhydride and 3-methylrhodanine were evaluated for the first time.     

Determination of dissociation constants of flavonoids by capillary electrophoresis

Ionization constants of some flavanols (catechin and epicatechin) and flavonols (kaempherol, fisetin, morin, and quercetin) are determined by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). This technique allows the determination of pK(a) values until about 12. The pK(a) values obtained are compared with those calculated by the SPARC computational program. This program predicts the microscopic and macroscopic pK(a) values and the order of deprotonation of the different -OH groups. While for catechin and epicatechin the first ionizable OH group occurs in ring 1 and the second ionizable group in ring 2, in flavonols the first deprotonation occurs in ring 2 and the second in ring 1.     

Determination of dissociation constants of folic acid, methotrexate, and other photolabile pteridines by pressure-assisted capillary electrophoresis

Pressure-assisted CE (PACE) was applied to determine the previously inaccessible complete set of pK values for folic acid and eight related multiprotic compounds. PACE allowed the determination of all acidity macroconstants at low (相似文献   

Investigation of the effect of ionic strength of Tris-acetate background electrolyte on electrophoretic mobilities of mono-, di-, and trivalent organic anions by capillary electrophoresis

The effect of ionic strength of the background electrolyte (BGE) composed of tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris) and acetic acid on the electrophoretic mobility of mono-, di- and trivalent anions of aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic and sulfonic acids was investigated by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Actual ionic mobilities of the above anions were determined from their CZE separations in Tris-acetate BGEs of pH 8.1 to 8.2 in the 3 to 100 mM ionic strength interval at constant temperature (25 degrees C). It was found that the ionic strength dependence of experimentally determined actual ionic mobilities does not follow the course supposed by the classical Onsager theory. A steeper decrease of actual ionic mobilities with the increasing ionic strength of BGE and a higher estimated limiting mobility of the anions than that found in the literature could be attributed to the specific behavior of the Tris-acetate BGEs. Presumably, not only a single type of interaction of anionic analytes with BGE constituents but rather the combination of effects, such as ion association or complexation equilibria, seems to be responsible for the observed deviation of the concentration dependence of the actual ionic mobilities from the Onsager theory. Additionally, several methods for the determination of limiting ionic mobilities from CZE measured actual ionic mobilities were evaluated. It turned out that the determined limiting ionic mobilities significantly depend on the calculation procedure used.     

Determination of thermodynamic pKa values of pharmaceuticals from five different groups using capillary electrophoresis

A determination of the thermodynamic acid dissociation constants (pK_a) of 22 frequently used pharmaceuticals using capillary electrophoresis in aqueous media is presented in this work. The investigated pharmaceuticals belong to different pharmacological groups: macrolides, fluoroquinolones, sulfonamides, β‐lactams, tetracyclines, and other miscellaneous pharmaceuticals. The electrophoretic mobilities of the investigated analytes were monitored in a pH range from 2.00 to 10.82. The data were fitted with an appropriate mathematical model using a nonlinear regression analysis to obtain pK_a values. Experimentally obtained data were well described by the mathematical model chosen for each analyte that was confirmed by r² values higher than 0.99 for most of the investigated analytes. Extrapolations to zero ionic strength were used to determine the thermodynamic pK_a values. Experimentally obtained acid dissociation constants were interpreted using structural formulae of investigated analytes and the moieties corresponding to specific pK_a were identified.     

Determination of the aggregation constants of bile salts by capillary electrophoresis

Summary Capillary electrophoresis has been investigated as a novel experimental method for determination of the aggregation constants of surfactants. The tendency of sodium cholate and sodium taurodeoxycholate to associate was studied in phosphate buffers of pH 8.0 and pH 7.0, respectively. Stepwise aggregation equilibria of bile salt monomers has been described in terms of massbalance equations. The Offord equation was used to model the electrophoretic mobility of the bile salt associates, and the experimental mobility values could be fitted to the model. Interestingly, only even-membered aggregates-dimers and tetramers-besides the monomers were proposed from the results of the curve-fitting for both bile salts. The aggregation constants calculated were (in molar units): cholate logK _A2=1.37, logK _A4=4.98 taurodeoxycholate logK _A2=1.68, logK _A4=6.46. From these values, more pronounced aggregation of taurodeoxycholate starting at lower concentrations has been deduced, supporting the back-to-back association model of bile salts.     

Determination of ionization constants of saccharides by capillary zone electrophoresis with amperometric detection

Summary A method based on a linear model enabling the efficient determination of the ionization constants (K _a) of saccharides by capillary zone electrophoresis with amperometric detection has been demonstrated. TheK _a values obtained from the plots of the reciprocal effective mobility against the inverse concentration of sodium hydroxide were in agreement with literature values.     

Determination of acid-base dissociation constants of very weak zwitterionic heterocyclic bases by capillary zone electrophoresis

Thermodynamic acid-base dissociation (ionization) constants (pK(a)) of seven zwitterionic heterocyclic bases, first representatives of new heterocyclic family (2,3,5,7,8,9-hexahydro-1H-diimidazo[1,2-c:2',1'-f][1,3,2]diazaphosphinin-4-ium-5-olate 5-oxides), originally designed as chiral Lewis base catalysts for enantioselective reactions, were determined by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). The pK(a) values of the above very weak zwitterionic bases were determined from the dependence of their effective electrophoretic mobility on pH in strongly acidic background electrolytes (pH 0.85-2.80). Prior to pK(a) calculation by non-linear regression analysis, the CZE measured effective mobilities were corrected to reference temperature, 25°C, and constant ionic strength, 25 mM. Thermodynamic pK(a) values of the analyzed zwitterionic heterocyclic bases were found to be particularly low, in the range 0.04-0.32. Moreover, from the pH dependence of effective mobility of the bases, some other relevant characteristics, such as actual and absolute ionic mobilities and hydrodynamic radii of the acidic cationic forms of the bases were determined.     

Determination of dissociation constants of compounds with potential cognition enhancing activity by capillary zone electrophoresis

Accurate determination of pK(a) values is important for proper characterization of newly synthesized molecules. In this work we have used CZE for determination of pK(a) values of new compounds prepared from intermediates, 2, 3 and 4-(2-chloro-acetylamino)-phenoxyacetic acids, by substituting chloride for 2-oxo-pyrrolidine, 2-oxo-piperidine or 2-oxo-azepane. These substances are expected to have a cognition enhancing activity and free radicals scavenging effect. Measurements were performed in a polyacrylamide-coated fused-silica capillary of 0.075 mm ID using direct UV detection at 254 nm. Three electrolyte systems were used for measurements to eliminate effects of potential interactions between tested compounds and components of the BGE. In the pH range 2.7-5.4, chloride, formate, acetate and phosphate were used as BGE co-ions, and sodium, beta-alanine and epsilon-aminocaproate as counterions. Mobility standards were measured simultaneously with the tested compounds for calculations of correct electrophoretic mobilities. Several approaches for the calculation of the pK(a) values were used. The values of pK(a) were determined by standard point-to-point calculation using Henderson-Hasselbach equation. Mobility and pH data were also evaluated by using nonlinear regression. Three parameter sigmoidal function fitted the experimental data with correlation coefficients higher than 0.99. Results from CZE measurements were compared with spectrophotometric measurements performed in sodium formate buffer solutions and evaluated at wavelength where the highest absorbance difference for varying pH was recorded. The experimental pK(a) values were compared with corresponding values calculated by the SPARC online calculator. Results of all three used methods were in good correlation.     

Determination of acidity constants of pyridines,imidazoles, and oximes by capillary electrophoresis

The acidity constant in the form of pK_a is one of the most important physicochemical quantities. There are prediction tools available for calculating the pK_a, but they only deliver precise calculated values for a relatively small set of chemicals. For complex structures with multiple functional groups in particular, the error in the predicted pK_a is high due to the application domain of the corresponding models. Thus, we aim to enlarge the dataset of experimentally determined pK_a values using capillary electrophoresis. We, therefore, selected various pyridines, imidazoles, and oximes to determine the pK_a values using the internal standard approach and the classical method. Especially oximes were not investigated in the past, and predictions for them include larger errors. Thus, our experimentally determined values could contribute to an improved understanding of various functional groups impacting the pK_a values and serve as additional datasets to develop improved pK_a prediction tools.     

毛细管电泳电化学检测法同时测定三种氨基酸的电离常数

利用自制微圆盘铜电极,建立了一种毛细管电泳电化学检测同时测定色氨酸、丝氨酸和半胱氨酸pKα值的新方法。在不同pH条件下测定各氨基酸的有效淌度（μeff）,利用Origin软件对μeff-[H^＋]按理论关系式进行非线性拟合,得到其pKα值。该方法简便、快速,测定值与文献值符合良好。     

Determination of stability constants of valinomycin complexes with ammonium and alkali metal ions by capillary affinity electrophoresis

Capillary affinity electrophoresis (CAE) has been employed to investigate quantitatively the interactions of valinomycin, macrocyclic depsipeptide antibiotic ionophore, with univalent cations, ammonium and alkali metal ions, K(+), Cs(+), Na(+), and Li(+), in methanol. The study involved measuring the change in effective electrophoretic mobility of valinomycin while the cation concentrations in the BGE were increased. The corresponding apparent stability (binding) constants of the valinomycin-univalent cation complexes were obtained from the dependence of valinomycin effective mobility on the cation concentration in BGE using a nonlinear regression analysis. The calculated apparent stability constants of the above-mentioned complexes show the substantially higher selectivity of valinomycin for K(+) and Cs(+) ions over Li(+), Na(+), and NH(4)(+) ions. CAE proved to be a suitable method for the investigation of both weak and strong interactions of valinomycin with small ions.     

乙酸和一氯乙酸电离常数的高效毛细管区带电泳法测定

首次建立了测定一氯乙酸和乙酸的电离常数的高效毛细管区带电泳新方法.该方法利用中性标记物和电流突跃两种方法来标记电渗流,通过测定乙酸和一氯乙酸在一定pH的缓冲溶液中的电泳淌度,结合数据回归分析拟合,求得乙酸和一氯乙酸的电离常数;所得数据和文献报道值较为接近.总体而言,毛细管区带电泳法可简单、快速、可靠地用于测定待测化合物的电离常数.     

Determination of protein-ligand affinity constants from direct migration time in capillary electrophoresis

A simple method to calculate dissociation constants for protein-ligand interactions by partial-filling capillary electrophoresis is demonstrated. The method uses raw migration time data for the ligand and needs only additional information about capillary inner radius and the absolute amount of protein loaded. A theoretical study supported by experimental data also demonstrates that the retention of analyte in affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE) using the partial-filling technique depends linearly on the absolute amount of selector added but is independent of both selector zone length and selector mobility. Factors such as field strength and electroosmotic flow are also cancelled out if they are kept constant. The theory is confirmed and the usefulness of the method is demonstrated by enantioseparations using alpha-acid glycoprotein (AGP) and cellulase (Cel 7A) as chiral selectors.     

Determination of the ionization constants of weak electrolytes by capillary zone electrophoresis

Capillary zone electrophoresis in untreated fused silica capillaries has proved suitable for the determination of the ionization constants of weak electrolytes. Several fundamental equations relating the electrophoretic mobilities of ionized solutes to hydronium ion concentrations in the running electrolyte have been verified experimentally. The observed dependence of the electrophoretic mobilities of weak bases and ampholytes on the pH of the electrolyte showed good agreement with predicted behavior. The pK_a values calculated from electrophoretic mobility data obtained by capillary zone electrophoresis were reasonably close to those reported in the literature.     

Determination of aqueous inclusion complexation constants and stoichiometry of alkyl(methyl)-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquid cations and neutral cyclodextrins by affinity capillary electrophoresis

Affinity CE (ACE) method was developed to characterize the complex formation between seven alkyl(methyl)methylimidazolium-based ionic liquid (IL) cations and eight neutral cyclodextrins (CD). The effective mobility data of the IL cations were processed according to classical nonlinear and linear treatments to obtain the complex stoichiometry and formation constant K. The majority of systems followed a 1:1 complexation stoichiometry model but in four cases a 1:2 stoichiometry was better satisfied. The K values obtained for each IL were compared to elucidate the main influences of IL and CD nature. The availability of these data should lend support to various application areas, including the screening and tailoring of new interactions in the solution for CE.     

Determination of effective charges and ionic mobilities of polycationic antimicrobial peptides by capillary isotachophoresis and capillary zone electrophoresis

Capillary ITP (CITP) and CZE were applied to the determination of effective charges and ionic mobilities of polycationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Twelve AMPs (deca‐ to hexadecapeptides) containing three to seven basic amino acid residues (His, Lys, Arg) at variable positions of peptide chain were investigated. Effective charges of the AMPs were determined from the lengths of their ITP zones, ionic mobilities, and molar concentrations, and from the same parameters of the reference compounds. Lengths of the ITP zones of AMPs and reference compounds were obtained from their CITP analyses in cationic mode using leading electrolyte (LE) composed of 10 mM NH₄OH, 40 mM AcOH (acetic acid), pH 4.1, and terminating electrolyte (TE) containing 40 mM AcOH, pH 3.2. Ionic mobilities of AMPs and singly charged reference compounds (ammediol or arginine) were determined by their CZE analyses in the BGE of the same composition as the LE. The effective charges numbers of AMPs were found to be in the range 1.65–5.04, i.e. significantly reduced as compared to the theoretical charge numbers (2.86–6.99) calculated from the acidity constants of the analyzed AMPs. This reduction of effective charge due to tightly bound acetate counterions (counterion condensation) was in the range 17–47% depending on the number and type of the basic amino acid residues in the AMPs molecules. Ionic mobilities of AMPs achieved values (26.5‐38.6) × 10⁻⁹ m²V⁻¹s⁻¹ and in most cases were in a good agreement with the ratio of their effective charges and relative molecular masses.