Eur. Phys. J. E (2019) 42: 94
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2019-11856-1

Regular Article

Limiting diffusion coefficients of ,-amino acids in water and in sodium chloride aqueous solutions at 298.15 K

¹ Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Bogotá, Calle 44 No. 45-67 - Bloque B-09, Bogotá D.C., Colombia
² Centro de Química and Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra, 3004-535, Coimbra, Portugal
³ U.D. Química Física, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain

^* e-mail: miguel.esteso@uah.es
^** e-mail: anacfrib@ci.uc.pt

Received: 4 January 2019
Accepted: 14 June 2019
Published online: 23 July 2019

Abstract

Transport properties of model compounds in aqueous solutions such as amino acids can provide valuable information in order to understand the complex interactions in aqueous solutions as well as the protein stability in water and the relevant factors involved. Informations about the diffusion of amino acids in water and in aqueous solutions of sodium chloride are very scarce, especially for the 5-aminopentanoic acid and 6-aminohexanoic acid. In this study, limiting binary mutual diffusion coefficients at 298.15 K of 5-aminopentanoic and 6-aminohexanoic acids in aqueous solutions of NaCl 0.15 mol kg^-1, using the Taylor dispersion technique, were determined and the results compared with the limiting binary mutual diffusion coefficients for 2-aminopentanoic acid, and 2-aminohexanoic acid, obtained in the same experimental conditions. The discussion of the properties of the selected amino acids is centered on the positions of the ionic groups in the hydrocarbon chain and, in addition, we have discussed the effects of NaCl on their structures and properties. The data on diffusion properties are supported by ¹H, ¹³C and ²³Na NMR experiments, which we have obtained for 5-aminopentanoic and 6-aminohexanoic acids, in aqueous solution, also in the presence of NaCl.