Evidence for multiple forms of p-trifluoromethylbenzenesulfonyl-alpha-chymotrypsin.

p-Trifluoromethylbenzenesulfonyl-alpha-chymotrypsin, an analog of tosylchymotrypsin, has been prepared and shown to be stable enough to permit fluorine nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. Up to four distinct trifluoromethyl resonances can be observed for the modified protein at 94.1 MHz even when the enzyme derivative is prepared from protein which has been purified by several methods. The resonances observed appear to represent proteins which are grossly similar as regards molecular size and the ability to bind and hydrolyze substrates, but nonetheless distinctive enough in the active-site region to produce appreciable chemical-shift effects.