Study of the binding between lysozyme and C10-TAB: determination and interpretation of the partial properties of protein and surfactant at infinite dilution.

This work examines the binding in aqueous solution, through the experimental determination of specific volumes and specific adiabatic compressibility coefficients, of decyltrimethylammonium bromide to lysozyme and to non-charged polymeric particles (which have been specially synthesized by emulsion polymerization). A method was developed to calculate the specific partial properties at infinite dilution and it was shown that a Gibbs-Duhem type equation holds at this limit for two solutes. With this equation, it is possible to relate the behavior of the partial properties along different binding types at a constant temperature. It was found that the first binding type, specific with high affinity, is related to a significant reduction of surfactant compressibility. The second binding type is accompanied by the unfolding of the protein and the third one is qualitatively identical to the binding of the surfactant to non-charged polymeric particles.