Sulfhydryl-blocked β-lactoglobulins (β-LG-S-SCH2CH2OH)-A, -B, and -C bind only one iodomercurate species, HgI3−, at only one site, with a dissociation constant of 4.0 x 10−5M at 25°, pH 5.0, 0.10 ionic strength. (Binding to native β-LG-SH-A, -B, and -C is more complex, involving the sulfhydryl and two other sites and several iodomercurates). Ther red shift of the HgI3− spectrum on binding would ordinarily suggest a hydrophobic site, but the HgI3− site is distinct from, and independent of, the alkane-binding site of native and blocked β-LG:HgI3− may bind a group that shifts its trigonal planar structure toward the tetrahedron of HgI42−. Binding of HgI3− to blocked β-LG interferes with the well-known association of β-LG-A to octamers at pH 4.6 and low temperature. The relation of the HgI3− site to the crystallographic iodomercurate-binding sites of β-LG-SH is examined.
To facilitate these and future studies if iodomercurate binding, the 200-400 nm spectra of HgI2. HgI3−, and HgI42− in aqueous solutions and the thermodynamic formation constants at 25° for the equilibria HgI2 + I−=HgI3− (4.9 x 103 M−1 and HgI3− + I−=HgI42− (0.118 x 103 M−1) were obtained.