Spectroscopic investigation of the interaction between human serum albumin and three organic acids

The interactions of human serum albumin (HSA) with sinapic acid (SA), gallic acid (GA) and shikimic acid (SI) were investigated by fluorescence and Fourier transformed infrared spectrometry. Fluorescence results showed that one molecule of protein combined with one molecule of GA at the molar ratio of drug to HSA ranging from 0.1 to 30, and their binding constant (KA) is 1.1 × 104 M−1. While one HSA molecule combined with one or two molecule of SA at the molar ratio of drug to HSA ranging from 0.1 to 4.26 or 4.26 to 30, and their binding affinities (KA) are 1.92 × 103 M−1 and 6.87 × 108 M−1, respectively. There is no specific interaction between HSA and SI. Combining the curve-fitting results of infrared amide I and amide III bands, the alterations of protein secondary structures induced by drugs were estimated. The drug–protein combination brought gradual reductions of the protein α-helix structure with increasing the concentrations of SA and GA, but SI did not change the protein secondary structure. From the fluorescence and FT-IR results, the binding mode was discussed in relation to the structures of the organic acids.