pH effects on the molecular structure and charging state of β-Escin biosurfactants at the air-water interface.

Saponins like β-escin exhibit an unusually high surface activity paired with a remarkable surface rheology which makes them as biosurfactants highly interesting for applications in soft matter colloids and at interfaces. We have applied vibrational sum-frequency generation (SFG) to study β-escin adsorption layers at the air-water interface as a function of electrolyte pH and compare the results from SFG spectroscopy to complementary experiments that have addressed the surface tension and the surface dilational rheology. SFG spectra of β-escin modified air-water interfaces demonstrate that the SFG intensity of OH stretching vibrations from interfacial water molecules is a function of pH and dramatically increases when the pH is increased from acidic to basic conditions and reaches a plateau at a solution pH of > 6.

Specific Ion Effects of Trivalent Cations on the Structure and Charging State of β-Lactoglobulin Adsorption Layers.

The properties of proteins at interfaces are important to many processes as well as in soft matter materials such as aqueous foam. Particularly, the protein interfacial behavior is strongly linked to different factors like the solution pH or the presence of electrolytes. Here, the nature of the electrolyte ions can significantly modify the interfacial properties of proteins.

Charge-Controlled Surface Properties of Native and Fluorophore-Labeled Bovine Serum Albumin at the Air-Water Interface.

Proteins at interfaces are important for protein formulations and in soft materials such as foam. Here, interfacial stability and physicochemical properties are key elements, which drive macroscopic foam properties through structure-property relations. Native and fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled bovine serum albumin (BSA) were used to modify air-water interfaces as a function of pH.

Impact of formulation pH on physicochemical protein characteristics at the liquid-air interface.

Both, formulation parameters and the presence of liquid-air interfaces are known to affect the aggregation of protein drugs. In this study, the impact of pH on the liquid-air interfacial behavior of three proteins, a polyclonal and two monoclonal antibodies (IgG, mAB and mAB) was investigated using different surface sensitive methods. Equilibrium surface pressure values revealed only a minor impact of pH.