Membranes 2016, 6(4), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes6040056
Vitamin E Circular Dichroism Studies: Insights into Conformational Changes Induced by the Solvent’s Polarity
Drew Marquardt 1,2,3,†,*
, Brad J. Van Oosten 1, Mikel Ghelfi 4, Jeffrey Atkinson 4 and Thad A. Harroun 1,*
1
Department of Physics, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada
2
Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Biophysics Division, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Graz 8010, Austria
3
BioTechMed-Graz, Graz 8010, Austria
4
Department of Chemistry, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada
†
Current address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Shiro Suetsugu
Received: 24 October 2016 / Revised: 7 December 2016 / Accepted: 8 December 2016 / Published: 14 December 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers)
Abstract
We used circular dichroism (CD) to study differences in CD spectra between α-, δ-, and methylated-α-tocopherol in solvents with different polarities. CD spectra of the different tocopherol structures differ from each other in intensity and peak locations, which can be attributed to chromanol substitution and the ability to form hydrogen bonds. In addition, each structure was examined in different polarity solvents using the Reichardt index—a measure of the solvent’s ionizing ability, and a direct measurement of solvent–solute interactions. Differences across solvents indicate that hydrogen bonding is a key contributor to CD spectra at 200 nm. These results are a first step in examining the hydrogen bonding abilities of vitamin E in a lipid bilayer. View Full-TextKeywords:
Vitamin E; α-tocopherol; δ-tocopherol; methylated tocopherol; circular dichroism; reichardt’s dye
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Marquardt, D.; Van Oosten, B.J.; Ghelfi, M.; Atkinson, J.; Harroun, T.A. Vitamin E Circular Dichroism Studies: Insights into Conformational Changes Induced by the Solvent’s Polarity. Membranes 2016, 6, 56.
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