DRILL

DRILL
For basic and acidic amino acids, the side chain can also
acquire a charge because it contains an amino or a carboxyl
group that can, respectively, gain or lose a proton.

Because of the extra site that can be protonated or

deprotonated, acidic and basic amino acids have four charged
forms in solution.

These four forms for aspartic acid, one of the acidic amino
acids, are
Isoelectric Point

The pKa1 is for the functional group that has dissociated at its
isoelectric point. If two groups are dissociated at isoelectric
pH, the pKa1 is the higher pKa of the two. Therefore, pKa2 is
for the group that has not dissociated at isoelectric pH. If
there are two groups that are not dissociated, the one with
the lower pKa is used.
DRILL
What is the pI for histidine?
DRILL
What is the pI for histidine?

Solution

The numbers to substitute in the equation for the pI are

6.0 [pKa1] and 9.17 [pKa2], which gives a pI of 7.58