Cation binding specific cations

Crown ether (Section 3.7B) Acyclic ether containing multiple oxygen atoms. Crown ethers bind specific cations depending on the size of their central cavity. 

The endogenous activity of antithrombin III is gready potentiated by the presence of acidic proteoglycans such as heparin (Chapter 48). These bind to a specific cationic site of antithrombin III, inducing a conformational change and promoting its binding to... 

The electrostatic potential calculations have shown that the minor groove of AT rich B-DNA sequence has the lowest negative potential.15 This led to the implication that the cationic drugs will exhibit binding specificity to the minor groove regions of AT rich sequences. The crystal structure of a DNA distamycin complex showed that there is only one molecule bound to the minor groove of an AATT DNA site.2 However, experimental studies... 

It seems possible that a very hydrophilic anion such as OH- might not in fact penetrate the micellar surface (Scheme 1) so that its interaction with a cationic micelle would be non-specific, and it would exist in the diffuse, Gouy-Chapman layer adjacent to the micelle. In other words, OH" would not be bound in the Stem layer, although other less hydrophilic anions such as Br, CN or N 3 probably would bind specifically in this layer. In fact the distinction between micellar and aqueous pseudophases is partially lost for reactions of very hydrophilic anions. The distinction is, however, appropriate for micellar reactions of less hydrophilic ions. 

The purification of some enzymes inactivates them because substances essential for their activity but not classed as a prosthetic group are removed. These are frequently inorganic ions which are not explicit participants in the reaction. Anionic activation seems to be non-specific and different anions are often effective. Amylase (EC 3.2.1.1), for example, is activated by a variety of anions, notably chloride. Cationic activation is more specific, e.g. magnesium is particularly important in reactions involving ATP and ADP as substrates. In cationic activation it seems very likely that the cation binds initially to the substrate rather than to the enzyme. 

Specific ion requirements for many enzymes are very well documented, and it could be expected that such enzymes showed special relations between AV and salt concentration. This also seemed to be the case in the experiments of Low and Somero (1975b). From 2.2 M ammonium sulfate, pyruvate kinase with specific cation (K+, NH4+) binding sites gave much stronger titration effects for dialyzed samples than for freshly diluted samples. This indicated that retention of ions at the binding sites partly inhibited the strong AVf dependence on salt concentration. 

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