Spectroscopy and Microscopy Studies of the Recognition of Amino Acids and Aggregation of Proteins by Zn(II) Complex of Lower Rim Naphthylidene Conjugate of Calix[4]arene

A lower rim naphthylidene conjugate of calix[4]arene [L] has been synthesized and characterized, and the structure has been established on the basis of single crystal XRD. The L has been found to be selective toward Zn2+, which induces appropriate changes in the arms of L so that the N2O2 coordination results in the formation of a tetrahedral complex; namely, [ZnL]. [ZnL] recognizes Asp, Cys, His, and Glu from among the naturally occurring amino acids owing to the protonation and chelating ability of the amino acid and the π−π interaction ability of the side chain of the amino acid with [ZnL]. All of these features have been demonstrated on the basis of fluorescence, absorption, and lifetime measurements. The rechelation of Zn2+ by the amino acid used in the titration has been demonstrated on the basis of ESI-MS studies in the case of Cys to result in a Zn2+ complex having either 5- or 6-coordination. [ZnL] has also been shown to be selective toward glutathione and glutathione oxidized. The amino acids present in the proteins also interact with [ZnL], resulting in dechelation of [ZnL] as well as aggregation of the protein, as demonstrated on the basis of absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The α-helical proteins (namely, albumins) exhibit greater conformational changes, as compared to the β-sheet proteins (namely, lectins), as studied on the basis of CD spectroscopy. The aggregation of the proteins when treated with [ZnL] follows a trend: peanut agglutinin < bovine serum albumin < jacalin < human serum albumin. The present studies clearly demonstrated the recognition features of [ZnL] toward Asp, Cys, His, and Glu, and the peptides and proteins containing these by spectroscopy and microscopy studies.