Absorption study typical uses

Optical spectra of transferrin C-lobe docked with the transferrin receptor showed a characteristic broad absorption band centred at 465 nm, just as in the receptor-free /zo/o-protein (Figure 2.1 inset). The intensity of this absorbance band declined as more negative potentials were applied in a spectroelectrochemistry experiment, but did not qualitatively change in its overall features. An EPR spectrum of the Fec/TfR complex at pH 5.8, recovered from the OTTLE cell after completion of spectroelectrochemical studies allowed us to conclude that the first coordination shell of Fe " in transferrin is intact and unperturbed when C-lobe is complexed with TfR. Consequently, we assume that C-lobe and Fec/TfR complex have similar if not identical Fe " and Fe binding constants, and so we take for binding of Fe " in the protein-receptor complex to be 10 M as calculated for free Tf. This value was used to correct the observed Nernst plot data by accounting for the dissociation of Fe that occurs upon reduction. Nernst plots for the observed spectroelectrochemical data for FccTf/TfR, and data corrected for Fe dissociation, are presented in Figure 2.7. The corrected plot exhibits typical Nernstian behaviour for a one-electron transfer and a E1/2 value of —285 mV. 

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