Enthalpy changes upon dilution and ionization of poly(L-glutamic acid) in aqueous solutions.

The enthalpy changes accompanying the dilution and ionization of poly(L-glutamic acid) in water have been measured at 25 degrees C for two degrees of polymerization (DP = 115 and DP = 480) at various degrees of ionization, alpha, for a concentration range from about 0.2 to 0.002 monomol/L. The heat of dilution displays an unusual dependence on the degree of ionization, which is in sharp contrast to the behavior of other weak carboxylic polyelectrolytes, such as poly(acrylic acid). The exothermic heat effects observed at low values of alpha become endothermic for the region where the helix-coil transition is most pronounced, and for high degrees of ionization, they are exothermic again. Evidently, an endothermic heat effect, produced by an additional conformational transition in the dilution process, is superimposed on the exothermic enthalpy of dilution, and it overweighs the latter in the region of alpha where the conformational transition is prevailing. The calorimetric titration curve, which gives the dependence of the heat of ionization, deltaH(i), on alpha, has a maximum and is typical for poly(carboxylic acids) which undergo pH-induced conformational transition, such as poly(methacrylic acid). The values of deltaH(i) obtained at two polymer concentrations indicate that the enthalpy of ionization depends on the polypeptide concentration.