STOICHIOMETRY
AND RESEARCH
–

THE IMPORTANCE OF
QUANTITY IN BIOMEDICINE

Edited by Alessio Innocenti










Stoichiometry and Research
–
The Importance of Quantity in Biomedicine
Edited by Alessio Innocenti


Published by InTech
Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Copyright © 2012 InTech
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Publishing Process Manager Bojan Rafaj
Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic
Cover Designer InTech Design Team

First published March, 2012
Printed in Croatia

A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com
Additional hard copies can be obtained from


Stoichiometry and Research
–

The Importance of Quantity in Biomedicine,
Edited by Alessio Innocenti
p. cm.
ISBN 978-953-51-0198-7








Contents

Preface IX
Part 1 The Importance of Stoichiometry in Host-Guest Chemistry 1
Stoichiometric Ratio in Calixarene Complexes 3
Chapter 1
Flor de María Ramírez and Irma García-Sosa
Water-Soluble Calix[4]arene Derivatives:
Chapter 2
Binding Stoichiometry and Spectroscopic
Evaluation of the Host-Guest Recognition Mechanism 27
Satish Balasaheb Nimse, Keum-Soo Song
and Taisun Kim
The Determination of the Stoichiometry of Cyclodextrin
Chapter 3
Inclusion Complexes by Spectral Methods:
Possibilities and Limitations 47
Cristina Tablet, Iulia Matei and Mihaela Hillebrand

Part 2 Stoichiometry of Metal Complexes 77
Coordination Chemistry of Palladium(II) Ternary
Chapter 4
Complexes with Relevant Biomolecules 79
Ahmed A. El-Sherif
Heavy Metal Ion
Chapter 5
Extraction Using Organic Solvents:
An Application of the Equilibrium Slope Method 121
Tjoon Tow Teng, Yusri Yusup and Ling Wei Low
Part 3 Stoichiometry in Lipids and Polymers Architecture 133
Lipid Composition in Miscible and Immiscible Phases 135
Chapter 6
Walter F. Schmidt, Michael A. Crawford,
Swati Mookherji and Alva D. Mitchell
VI

Contents


Stoichiometry of Polymer Complexes 147
Chapter 7
A.Z. El-Sonbati, M.A. Diab and A.A. El-Bindary
Dermatological Application of PAMAM –
Chapter 8
Vitamin Bioconjugates and Host-Guest Complexes –
Vitamin C Case Study 195
Stanisław Wołowiec, Marek Laskowski,
Barbara Laskowska, Agnieszka Magoń,
Bogdan Mysliwiec and Marek Pyda

Part 4 The Role of Stoichiometry
in the Determination of Protein Interactions 211
Stoichiometry of Signalling Complexes in Immune Cells:
Chapter 9
Regulation by the Numbers 213
Elad Noy, Barak Reicher and Mira Barda-Saad
Determination of the Binding
Chapter 10
Site-Size of the Protein-DNA Complex
by Use of the Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay 235
Cheng-Yang Huang
Stoichiometry of Protein Interactions
Chapter 11
in Bacteriophage Tail Assembly 243
Fumio Arisaka
Part 5 Experimental Techniques
for the Evaluation of Stoichiometry 259
Methodology for Bioprocess Analysis:
Chapter 12
Mass Balances, Yields and Stoichiometries 261
Farges Bérangère, Poughon Laurent,
Pons Agnès and Dussap Claude-Gilles
Distribution Diagrams
Chapter 13
and Graphical Methods to Determine
or to Use the Stoichiometric Coefficients
of Acid-Base and Complexation Reactions 287
Alberto Rojas-Hernández, Norma Rodríguez-Laguna,
María Teresa Ramírez-Silva and Rosario Moya-Hernández
Limiting Reactants in Chemical Analysis:

Chapter 14
Influences of Metals and Ligands
on Calibration Curves and Formation
Constants for Selected Iron-Ligand Chelates 311
Mark T. Stauffer, William E. Weller,
Kimberly R. Kubas and Kelly A. Casoni
Contents VII

Part 6 Biomedicine and Environment: The Future is Now? 335
Recent New Characterizations
Chapter 15
on the Giant Extracellular Hemoglobin
of Glossoscolex paulistus and Some Other
Giant Hemoglobins from Different Worms 337
Marcel Tabak, Francisco A.O. Carvalho, José W.P. Carvalho,
Jose F.R. Bachega and Patrícia S. Santiago
Biological Stoichiometry:
Chapter 16
The Elements at the Heart of Biological Interactions 357
Mehdi Cherif








Preface


Science seeks to understand and explain our world, be that its physical composition
(geology), chemical composition (chemistry), the way its composite matter interacts
(physics), or the organisms that inhabit it (biology). We can only get an idea of what
life is all about by piecing together information from each discipline to give us the big
picture.
We don’t have to look very far to realize that it is difficult, if not impossible, to
separate biology from chemistry. After all, our body is a bag of chemicals. The proteins
that form our hair, nails and muscle fibers are chemicals; the minerals that are the
basis of our own bones and teeth are chemicals; even the food and drinks we consume
are chemicals.
Chemistry explores life at the level of atoms and molecules. It is really all about
understanding how atoms interact to form larger, more complicated substances.
Biology then looks at their behavior when they are combined on a larger scale (cells,
tissues, organisms, populations). Chemistry is encapsulated by a handful of essential
concepts that are epitomized by the world around us. Just grasping these concepts is
sufficient to get to grips with many of the key chemical principles that underpin
biology.
Life is the result of thousands of different biochemical reactions occurring in every cell
of our body. At first glance many of these reactions seem very complicated. Beneath
the façade of complexity, however, lie simple principles and tools that give support to
all chemical reactions. Some of them undergo the general concept of stoichiometry.
The word stoichiometry may sound mysterious, but it is simply based on Greek words
meaning ‘element measure’. It is a branch of chemistry that deals with the relative
quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions. At first blush one could
think of stoichiometry as something confined to a general chemistry course or a
student laboratory, but a deeper consideration of the term itself reveals a surprisingly
wide range of applications. We are surrounded every day by tens of thousands of
different chemical compounds with contrasting characteristics. Sometimes, the
presence of a compound is essential for our existence, like O
2 in the air or glucose in

the food. By contrast, the presence of a compound may be detrimental, like pollutants
X Preface

in the water of alcohol in our blood stream. This is the reason why we need ways of
determining what is in our chemical environment, of knowing what is there and, more
importantly, how much. Evaluating the amount of a compound we have in a system is
often vital: too much of a compound may be toxic to the point of being lethal, too little
may be equally harmful.
The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the importance of stoichiometry in
the biomedical field. It contains a collection of selected research articles and reviews all
providing adequate and up-to-date information related to stoichiometry from different
point of views. The first section deals with host-guest chemistry, focusing on selected
calixarenes, cyclodextrins and crown ethers derivatives. In the second and third
sections the book presents some issues concerning stoichiometry of metal complexes
and lipids and polymers architecture. The fourth section aims to to clarify the role of
stoichiometry in the determination of protein interactions, while in the fifth section
some selected experimental techniques applied to specific systems are introduced. The
last section of the book is an attempt at showing some interesting connections between
biomedicine and the environment, introducing the concept of biological stoichiometry
and presenting some data that prove how the two disciplines entwine. On this basis,
the present volume would definitely be an ideal source of scientific information to
advanced students, junior researchers, faculties and scientists involved in biomedicine,
biochemistry and other areas involving stoichiometry evaluation.
A special word of appreciation is due to Mr Bojan Rafaj, the Publishing Process
Manager who oversaw and coordinated the publishing of all materials and assisted me
and the authors in completing our work easily and in a timely manner. My profound
thanks also to the technical editor who prepared these manuscripts for publication by
InTech - Open Access Publisher.

Dr. Alessio Innocenti

Department of Chemistry,
University of Florence,
Italy



Part 1
The Importance of Stoichiometry
in Host-Guest Chemistry