title: Electrochemical titrations and reaction time courses monitored in situ by magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy.
abstract: Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra, at ultraviolet-visible or near-infrared wavelengths (185-2000 nm), contain the same transitions observed in conventional absorbance spectroscopy, but their bisignate nature and more stringent selection rules provide greatly enhanced resolution. Thus, they have proved to be invaluable in the study of many transition metal-containing proteins. For mainly technical reasons, MCD has been limited almost exclusively to the measurement of static samples. But the ability to employ the resolving power of MCD to follow changes at transition metal sites would be a potentially significant advance. We describe here the development of a cuvette holder that allows reagent injection and sample mixing within the 50-mm-diameter ambient temperature bore of an energized superconducting solenoid. This has allowed us, for the first time, to monitor time-resolved MCD resulting from in situ chemical manipulation of a metalloprotein sample. Furthermore, we report the parallel development of an electrochemical cell using a three-electrode configuration with physically separated working and counter electrodes, allowing true potentiometric titration to be performed within the bore of the MCD solenoid.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular and Structural Biochemistry, School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Justin M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Julea N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Butt
authors.forename: Myles R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Cheesman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001400:Azurin / Q000032:analysis; D002942:Circular Dichroism / Q000379:methods*; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis; D045304:Cytochromes c / Q000032:analysis; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006418:Heme / Q000032:analysis; D006736:Horses; D008280:Magnetics / Q000379:methods*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D042084:Paracoccus pantotrophus / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D017186:Titrimetry
chemical_list: C047163:pseudoazurin; D001400:Azurin; D006418:Heme; D003300:Copper; D045304:Cytochromes c