Modeling the acid-base properties of bacterial surfaces: A combined spectroscopic and potentiometric study of the gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis.

In this study, macroscopic and spectroscopic data were combined to develop a surface complexation model that describes the acid-base properties of Bacillus subtilis. The bacteria were freeze-dried and then resuspended in 0.1 M NaCl ionic medium. Macroscopic measurements included potentiometric acid-base titrations and electrophoretic mobility measurements. In addition, ATR-FTIR spectra of wet pastes from suspensions of Bacillus subtilis at different pH values were collected. The least-squares program MAGPIE was used to generate a surface complexation model that takes into account the presence of three acid-base sites on the surface: tripple bond COOH, tripple bond NH+, and tripple bond PO-, which were identified previously by XPS measurements. Both potentiometric titration data and ATR-FTIR spectra were used quantitatively, and electrostatic effects at the charged bacterial surface were accounted for using the constant capacitance model. The model was calculated using two different approaches: in the first one XPS data were used to constrain the ratio of the total concentrations of all three surface sites. The capacitance of the double layer, the total buffer capacity, and the deprotonation constants of the tripple bond NH+, tripple bond POH, and tripple bond COOH species were determined in the fit. A second approach is presented in which the ratio determined by XPS of the total concentrations of tripple bond NH+ to tripple bond PO- sites is relaxed. The total concentration of tripple bond PO- sites was determined in the fit, while the deprotonation constant for tripple bond POH was manually varied until the minimization led to a model which predicted an isoelectric point that resulted in consistency with electrophoretic mobility data. The model explains well the buffering capacity of Bacillus subtilis suspensions in a wide pH range (between pH=3 and pH=9) which is of considerable environmental interest. In particular, a similar quantitative use of the IR data opens up possibilities to model other bacterial surfaces at the laboratory scale and help estimate the buffering capacity of carboxylate-containing compounds in natural samples.

Potentiometric determination of the total acidity of humic acids by constant-current coulometry.

A straightforward method for both the quantitative and the equilibrium analysis of humic acids in solution, based on the combination of potentiometry with coulometry, is presented. The method is based on potentiometric titrations of alkaline solutions containing, besides the humic acid sample, also NaClO(4) 1M; by means of constant current coulometry the analytical acidity in the solutions is increased with a high precision, until the formation of a solid phase occurs. Hence, the total acid content of the macromolecules may be determined from the e.m.f. data by using modified Gran plots or least-squares sum minimization programs as well. It is proposed to use the pK(w) value in the ionic medium as a check of the correctness of each experiment; this datum may be readily obtained as a side-result in each titration. Modelling acid-base equilibria of the HA samples analysed was also performed, on the basis of the buffer capacity variations occurring during each titration. The experimental data fit, having the least standard deviation, was obtained assuming a mixture of three monoprotic acids (HX, HY, HZ) having about the same analytical concentration, whose acid dissociation constants in NaClO(4) 1M at 25 degrees C were pK(HX)=3.9+/-0.2, pK(HY)=7.5+/-0.3, pK(HZ)=9.5+/-0.2, respectively. With the proposed method the handling of alkaline HA solutions, the titration with very dilute NaOH or HCl solutions and the need for the availability of very small volumes of titrant to be added by microburettes may be avoided.

On the hydrolysis of the dioxouranium(VI) ion in oxalate solutions.

The complex formation between the dioxouranium (VI) and the oxalate ions has been investigated by measuring the potential of a glass electrode, at 25.00 degrees C, in 1 and 3 M NaClO4, at lower acidities than 10(-4.5) M, in order to favour the formation of (mixed) ternary species. The upper limits of concentration of all the analytical parameters have been imposed by the modest solubility of Na2C2O4 in the ionic media. The experimental measurements at different ionic strengths have been treated by means of the computerised least square programme LETAGROP - ETITR. Ternary complexes of general composition (p, q, r) are formed according to reaction (1), in addition to the already reported binary complexes. pUO2(2+) + qH2O + rC2O4(2-) <==> (UO2)p(OH)q(C2O4)r(2p-q-2r)(+) + qH+ (1). The stoichiometric compositions of the ternary species are (1, 1, 1), (2, 4, 2), (2, 2, 4). Their formation constants, expressed in molality, obtained in the two ionic media, are listed below. [table: see text]. For reasons discussed in the present work in the last column only the value of the constant in 1 M ionic medium is reported for the species (2, 4, 2). Additional evidence on the stoichiometric composition of the species formed is afforded by the mass-spectrometric measurements, collected in solutions of known composition.