The Journal of General Physiology, Vol 16, 357-366,
Copyright © 1932 by The Rockefeller University Press
THE COMBINATION OF CERTAIN PROTEINS WITH HYDROCHLORIC ACID
David I. Hitchcock 1
1 From the Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven
Electromotive force measurements of cells without liquid junction, of the type Ag, AgCl, HCl + protein, H2, have been made at 30°C. with the proteins gelatin, edestin, and casein in 0.1 M hydrochloric acid. The data are consistent with the assumptions of a constant combining capacity of each protein for hydrogen ion, no combination with chloride ion, and Failey's principle of a linear variation of the logarithm of the mean activity coefficient of the acid with increasing protein concentration. The combining capacities for hydrogen ion so obtained are 13.4 x 104 for edestin, 9.6 x 104 for gelatin, and 8.0 x 104 for casein, in equivalents of combined H+ per gm. of protein.
Accepted on September 15, 1932