title: Demonstration that phosphorescent 6-bromo-2-naphthyl sulfate can be used to probe heme accessibility in heme proteins.
abstract: The phosphorescence properties of 6-bromo-2-naphthyl sulfate (BNS) in aqueous solution were studied. The phosphorescence lifetime is several hundred microseconds and is self-quenched. Although a fluorescent photoproduct is formed from BNS, it does not interfere with the decay properties of triplet-state BNS and its utility as a probe of the accessibility of the heme group in heme proteins. Quenching of BNS phosphorescence does not occur for the non-heme protein lysozyme and apomyoglobin but occurs by a dynamic mechanism with a quenching constant of 1-2 x 10(9) M-1 s-1 for cytochrome c and myoglobin and with a quenching constant of 6.2 x 10(9) M-1 s-1 for protoporphyrin IX. The phosphorescence of an inclusion complex of 1-bromonaphthalene and beta-cyclodextrin is not quenched by heme-containing proteins. The temperature and viscosity dependencies of the rate with which BNS phosphorescence is quenched by microperoxidase-11 are consistent with unit quenching efficiency. These results indicate that quenching of BNS phosphorescence occurs only upon contact with the quencher, and the quenching constant can be used to assess the degree of accessibility of the heme group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Davidson College, NC 28036.
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Bayles
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beckham
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Leidig
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montrem
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Schuh
mesh_terms: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006418:Heme / Q000032:analysis*; D006420:Hemeproteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D049449:Luminescence; D009281:Naphthalenes; D013464:Sulfuric Acids; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006420:Hemeproteins; D009281:Naphthalenes; D013464:Sulfuric Acids; D006418:Heme; C072598:6-bromo-2-naphthyl sulfate