Fase 3

Properties of Protein

a. Physical Properties of Protein

 Proteins are colorless and tasteless
 They are homogeneous and crystalline.
 Proteins vary in shape, proteins can form from simple crystalloid structures to
long fibrilar structures.
 The structure of proteins consists of two different patterns - globular proteins
and fibrilar proteins.
 Globular proteins that are round and are present in plants. Fibillar proteins are
like threads, they are generally present in animals.
 Proteins generally have large molecular weights ranging from 5 x 103 and 1 x
106. because of their large size proteins have many colloidal properties
 The level of protein diffusion is very slow
 Protein shows tyndall effect
 Protein solubility depends on pH. The lowest solubility is seen at the
isoelectric point. Solubility increases with increasing acidity or alkalinity
 All proteins show a polarized plane of light to the left, namely laevorotatory
b. Chemical Properties of Protein:
 Protein when hydrolyzed with alkali causes hydrolysis of certain amino acids
such as ariginie, cysteine, sterin, etc. also the optical activity of the amino
acids lost
 Proteins reacted with alcohol give the corresponding esters. This process is
known as esterification
 Amino acids react with amines to form amides
 When free amino acids or proteins are said to react with mineral acids such as
HCl, acid salts will form
 When amino acids in an alkaline medium react with a lot of hydrochloric acid,
the acylation reaction takes place
 Sanger reaction is a protein reacting with FDNB reagents to produce yellow
derivatives, DNB amino acids.
 Folin test is a specific test for amino acid trosin, where blue develops with
phosphomolybdotungstic acid in an alkaline solution due to the presence of
phenol groups