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Abstract

Two mono-substituted β-cyclodextrins and two bridged bis-β-cyclodextrins, that is, mono(6-(2-aminoethylamino)-6-deoxy)-β-cyclodextrin (1), mono(6-(2-(2-aminoethylamino)ethylamino)-6-deoxy)-β-cyclodextrin (2), ethylene-1,2-diamino bis-6-(6-deoxy-β-cyclodextrin) (3), and iminodiethylene-2,2′-diamino bis-6-(6-deoxy-β-cyclodextrin) (4), were prepared from β-cyclodextrin. Their binding ability with bovine serum albumin as a model protein was investigated through proton magnetic resonance (1H NMR), ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), circular dichroism (CD), and fluorescence spectroscopy. In the 1H NMR spectra of the modified cyclodextrins, the resolution of proton signals decreases after the addition of BSA. From the UV and CD spectra, it is found that both the UV absorption and the α-helix content of BSA increase with the concentration of the modified cyclodextrins. The protein–ligand interactions cause a fluorescence quenching. The quenching constants are determined using the Stern–Volmer equation to provide an observation of the binding affinity between modified cyclodextrins and BSA. All these results indicate that the modified cyclodextrins can interact with BSA and the bridged bis(β-cyclodextrin)s (3 and 4) have much stronger interactions than the mono-substituted β-cyclodextrins (1 and 2). The strong binding stability of bis-cyclodextrins should be attributed to the cooperative effect of two adjacent cyclodextrin moieties. Job’s plot shows that the complex stoichiometries of BSA to the modified cyclodextrins were 1:4 for 1 and 2, as well as 1:3 for 3 and 4, respectively.