ATP and other nucleotide interaction with model compounds of amino acids.

With the use of a new liquid scintillation technique, the partitioning and interfacial interaction of ³H-ATP and other adenine nucleotides to various amphiphiles has been studied. The amphiphiles consisted of lipophilic groups attached to amino acid residues or certain functional groups and were as follows: trimethylindole, octadecylamine, octadecyl alcohol, dodecylguanidine, stearylamide, acetododecyl amide, p-nonyl phenol, stearyl mercaputan, stearic acid, and imidazole. A toluene solution containing the lipophilic substance and fluor molecules was layered onto aqueous solutions containing a ³H-nucleotide, and the interaction followed by the liquid scintillation technique. A strong interaction with the nucleotides occurred with dodecylguanidine, octadecylamine, and trimethylindole, while the interaction with the other amphiphiles was slight or absent. The time course of the interaction followed first order kinetics irrespective of the number of reactive species; the rate of diffusion of the nucleotide being the rate-determining step. The technique permitted a simple analysis of formation constants; which for ATP were 1–2 orders of magnitude greater than for ADP and AMP. In the presence of Ca²⁺, but not Mg²⁺, an interaction occurred between ATP and either stearic acid, stearyl mercaputan, and p-nonyl phenol. On the other hand, in the presence of Mg²⁺, but not Ca²⁺, an interaction occurred between stearic acid and polyadenylic acid. The results are discussed in relation to ATP interactions with proteins and lipids.