Journal of Lipid Research, Vol 38, 1178-1188, Copyright © 1997 by Lipid Research, Inc.
Aqueous dissociation constants of bile pigments and sparingly soluble carboxylic acids by 13C NMR in aqueous dimethyl sulfoxide: effects of hydrogen bonding
FR Trull, S Boiadjiev, DA Lightner and AF McDonagh
Department de Quimica Organica, Universitat de Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain.
pKas for the acid dissociation of the carboxyl groups of bilirubin in water
have been reported recently to be 8.1-8.4, or higher. These high values
were attributed to intramolecular hydrogen bonding. They have led to
suggestions that monoanions of bilirubin predominate at physiologic pH and
are the species transported most readily into hepatocytes by carriers. Such
high aqueous pKas are inconsistent with recent 13C nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) measurements on mesobilirubin XIII alpha, done on aqueous
solutions containing dimethyl sulfoxide. To investigate whether the
presence of dimethyl sulfoxide leads to unreliable values when using 13C
NMR spectroscopy to determine pKas of carboxylic acids that can undergo
intramolecular hydrogen bonding, we measured the pKas of 13C-labeled
fumaric, maleic, and phthalic acids in solutions containing up to 27 vol%
dimethyl sulfoxide. In addition, we used 13C NMR to estimate the pKas of
2,2'- methylenebis[5-carbomethoxy-4-methylpyrrole-3-[1-13C] propanoic
acid], a model for the two central rings of bilirubin. Our results show
that 13C NMR of aqueous dimethyl sulfoxide solutions can be used with
confidence to measure pKas of intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded carboxylic
acids. They support our previous estimates for the pKas of bilirubin and
confirm that intramolecular hydrogen bonding has little effect on the
acidity of bilirubins in water. Together with previous studies and chemical
arguments they strongly suggest that reported aqueous pKas of > 8, or
even > 6, for the carboxyl groups of bilirubin are incorrect and that
arguments used to rationalize them are questionable.