The stability of proteins is known to be affected
significantly in the presence of high concentration of
salts and is highly pH dependent. Extensive studies have
been carried out on the stability of proteins in the presence
of simple electrolytes and evaluated in terms of preferential
interactions and increase in the surface tension of the
medium. We have carried out an in-depth study of the effects
of a series of carboxylic acid salts: ethylene diamine
tetra acetate, butane tetra carboxylate, propane tricarballylate,
citrate, succinate, tartarate, malonate, and gluconate
on the thermal stability of five different proteins that
vary in their physico-chemical properties: RNase A, cytochrome
c, trypsin inhibitor, myoglobin, and lysozyme.
Surface tension measurements of aqueous solutions of the
salts indicate an increase in the surface tension of the
medium that is very strongly correlated with the increase
in the thermal stability of proteins. There is also a linear
correlation of the increase in thermal stability with the
number of carboxylic groups in the salt. Thermal stability
has been found to increase by as much as 22 °C at 1
M concentration of salt. Such a high thermal stability
at identical concentrations has not been reported before.
The differences in the heat capacities of denaturation,
ΔCp for RNase A, deduced from the
transition curves obtained in the presence of varying concentrations
of GdmCl and that of carboxylic acid salts as a function
of pH, indicate that the nature of the solvent medium and
its interactions with the two end states of the protein
control the thermodynamics of protein denaturation. Among
the physico-chemical properties of proteins, there seems
to be an interplay of the hydrophobic and electrostatic
interactions that lead to an overall stabilizing effect.
Increase in surface free energy of the solvent medium upon
addition of the carboxylic acid salts appears to be the
dominant factor in governing the thermal stability of proteins.