Temperature scanning FTIR analysis of secondary structures of proteins embedded in amorphous sugar matrix.

Heat-induced changes in secondary structures of five proteins (bovine serum albumin, BSA; human serum albumin, HSA; myoglobin; ribonuclease A, RNase A; and, beta-lactoglobulin, beta-Lg) in an amorphous sugar matrix were analyzed by temperature-scanning Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to elucidate the mechanism of heat-induced conformational change of solid-phase proteins. Three sugars, trehalose, maltose, and dextran (MW 6000), were used. Loss of alpha-helices due to increasing temperature was observed for BSA, HSA, and myoglobin, which are rich in alpha-helices.

True density analysis of a freeze-dried amorphous sugar matrix.

True density of an amorphous matrix represents the state of molecular packing in the matrix, which is closely related to the physical/chemical properties of the material. Dry gas pycnometry is one possible technique for measuring the true density of an amorphous sugar matrix prepared by freeze-drying. We herein report on the influence of conditions used for pycnometry on the measured density value and propose a protocol for obtaining the true density.

Temperature scanning FTIR analysis of interactions between sugar and polymer additive in amorphous sugar-polymer mixtures.

The impact of a polymer additive (polyvinylpyrrolidone, PVP) on hydrogen bonding in amorphous sugar matrices as well as on the glass transition temperature, T(g), were examined by temperature scanning Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TS-FTIR). An amorphous sugar matrix containing PVP was prepared by air-drying an aqueous solution of a sugar-PVP mixture. The hydrogen bonds in the sugar-PVP mixture (sugar-PVP and sugar-sugar hydrogen bonds) were analyzed from the IR peak positions corresponding to the stretching vibration of C==O groups of PVP and O--H groups of the sugar and the temperature dependence of the peak position of the O--H stretching vibration band.

Characteristics of hydrogen bond formation between sugar and polymer in freeze-dried mixtures under different rehumidification conditions and its impact on the glass transition temperature.

The characteristics of hydrogen bond formation between trehalose and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in amorphous mixtures at different hydration states were quantitatively investigated. Amorphous trehalose-PVP mixtures were prepared by freeze-drying and equilibrated at different relative humidities (RH). Infrared (IR) spectra of the trehalose-PVP mixtures were obtained by Fourier transform IR spectroscopy,(FTIR) and the IR band corresponding to C=O groups of PVP was deconvolved into the component bands responsible for C=O groups that were free and restricted by hydrogen bonds, to estimate the degree of the trehalose-PVP interactions.