Spectrophotometric study of the interaction of tetraphenylporphyrin tetrasulfonate (TPPS4) with proteins

The interaction of water-soluble porphyrin TPPS(4) (tetraphenylporphyrin tetrasulfonate) with proteins in acidic solution was studied by spectrophotometry. The absorption spectra of TPPS(4)-protein complexes, the aggregation of TPPS(4) in acidic solution, and comparison of the absorption spectra of TPPS(4)-protein conjugate with that of the TPPS(4)-protein complex was investigated in detail. The effects of denaturants including urea and SDS were also examined. A mechanism was proposed that TPPS(4) would be distributed between microphase of protein and the aqueous solution and then aggregated in the microphase.