N. Nakamura et al., Electron transfer reaction of poly(ethylene oxide)-modified azurin in poly(ethylene oxide) oligomers, ELECTR ACT, 46(10-11), 2001, pp. 1605-1608
The native azurin (Az) was chemically modified with activated poly(ethylene
oxide) (PEO) to solubilize in the PEO oligomers. PEO2000 (average molecula
r weight of 2000)-modified Az (PEO2000-Az) was dissolved without denaturati
on in PEG(200) (average molecular weight of 200). The electronic absorption
spectrometry exhibited no detectable conformational change of PEO2000-Az i
n phosphate buffer. The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum of P
EO2000-Az is also quite similar to that of native Az in water. This result
confirms that the chemical modification with PEG,,,, does not cause any str
uctural change around the copper site. Moreover, since no changes in the EP
R spectrum are observed in PE200, the copper coordination geometry must be
maintained even in PEO200. The redox activity of PEO2000-Az in PEO200 (cont
aining 0.5 mol dm(-3) NaClO4) was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. When
we use the PEO350-SH (alpha -methoxy-omega -mercapto-poly(ethylene oxide);
PEO with average molecular weight of 350) modified gold electrode as a work
ing electrode, the redox response was observed in PEG,,. The result of the
measurements for the scan rate dependence suggests that PEO2000-Az could be
immobilized on the PEO350-SH modified electrode. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science
Ltd. All rights reserved.