A Microsoft Excel workbook has been developed to simplify the quantitative analysis of experimentally measured titration curves for diprotic and triprotic amino acids such as glycine, arginine, histidine, and glutamate. Students perform the titration, enter the data into the worksheet, and manually adjust the resulting pK[subscript a] values to…

Circular dichroism (CD) has emerged as one of the standard biophysical techniques for the study of guaninequadruplex (G4) folding, cation effect, and ligand binding. The utility of this technique is based on its robustness, ease of use, and requirement of only small quantities of nucleic acid. This experiment is also extendable to the classroom…

New suitable approaches were investigated to visualize the photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of bacteria immobilized on agar surfaces. The PDI capacities of a cationic photosensitizer (5,10,15,20-tetra(4-N,N,N-trimethylammoniumphenyl)porphyrin) and an anionic photosensitizer (5,10,15,20-tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin) were analyzed on a typical…

Proposes a series of experiments that integrate analytical techniques in order that students are able to compare, based on their laboratory results, the relative reliabilities of the most common therapeutic drug monitoring methods. Discusses materials, procedures, and results of three experiments on the determination of drug concentration by…

Explains that triglycerides consist of a mixture of different compounds, depending on the total number of fatty acid constituents. Details the method and instrumentation necessary for students to analyze a vegetable oil for its triglyceride content. Describes sample results. (CW)

Describes a purification process through affinity chromatography necessary to obtain specific blood group glycoproteins from erythrocytic membranes. Discusses the preparation of erythrocytic membranes, extraction of glycoprotein from membranes, affinity chromatography purification, determination of glycoproteins, and results. (CW)

Describes an experiment that provides a fundamental understanding of the kinetics of the enzyme papain. Discusses background, materials, procedures and results. Mentions analogous experiments that can be conducted with enzymatic contact-lens cleaning solutions. (CW)