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WSN: zwitterions in membrane
Could you shed light (and references) on the following problem?
A number of us are debating the properties of a zwitterion
species (electrically neutral but two charges) versus a singly
charged species. The question is whether a zwitterion species is
more or less soluble in a cell membrane than a very close
structural analog bearing a single charge. The zwitterion has
the advantage of being electrically neutral. The disadvantage
is that it may actually have a much larger sphere of hydration
and therefore require a larger decrease in entropy in order to
partition into the hydrophobic cell membrane. The assumption
here is that the zwitterion charges are sufficiently separated
so that they cannot interact. The case of interacting charges is
also an interesting one.
I would be happy to summarize for the net if the response is
good enough and there is interest in the answers. Please direct
responses to me initially to avoid too much network traffic.
Thanks in advance,
Adi M Treasurywala,Sterling Winthrop Inc,1250 South Collegeville Road,
PO Box 5000, Collegeville, PA 19426-0900,Voice (215)983-6610 FAX
(215)983-5559, INTERNET adit@kodak.com