Water sorption on deoxygenated hemoglobins CC, SC, SS, AS, and AA

Five human hemoglobins whose genetic relationship to one another involves one set of alleles, hemoglobins CC, SC, SS, AS, and AA, were studied in the deoxygenated form within a McBain gravimetric sorption system at 28°C. Water was used as the adsorbate at relative vapor pressures ranging from 0.11 to 0.39. The results of this study are reported and compared with a similar study on the ferric form of these same five hemoglobins. For both forms of hemoglobin studied, a slight increase was measured in the number of polar sites accessible to H₂O vapor for those genotypes in which the substituent in the sixth position from the N terminus of the two β chains had a positively charged side chain, i.e., hemoglobin C. Those samples containing hemoglobin S (less soluble in the deoxy form) show an increased BET monolayer coverage in the deoxy as compared to the ferric form. For each genotype, the deoxygenated form had more polar sites accessible to H₂O vapor than its ferric form. This finding is in agreement with an increase in the size of the central cavity as shown by crystallographic analysis.