Carbonate radical anion-induced electron transfer in bovine serum albumin

Reaction of native and thermally denatured bovine serum albumin (BSA) with carbonate radical anion (CO3−) has been studied using pulse radiolysis technique. Scavenging of CO3− by native BSA and consequent electron transfer from tyrosine to tryptophan radical has been observed to occur with almost same rate constant (k∼1.7×108 dm3 mol−1 s−1) at pH 8.8. Effect of structural changes, due to thermal denaturation, on scavenging of CO3− and the electron transfer process have been studied and discussed in this paper.