Thermodynamics of interaction of L-α-phenylalanine with urea and dimethylformamide in aqueous solution

Abstract

The thermal effects of solution of L-phenylalanine in aqueous solutions of urea and dimethylformamide (DMF) at 25°C were determined. The solubility of L-phenylalanine in water and aqueous DMF solutions was measured. The standard enthalpies, free energies, and entropies of solution of the amino acid in aqueous solutions of amides were calculated. The parameters of pair and ternary amino acid-amide interactions were determined within the framework of the McMillan-Mayer theory. The amino acid-amide pair interaction is accompanied by a decrease in the Gibbs free energy, controlled by the entropy term with DMF and by the enthalpy term with urea. The interaction of L-phenylalanine with two amide molecules is repulsive, which in the case of DMF leads to an increase in the standard free energies of solution of the amino acid at the amide mole fraction X 2 > 0.05.