Lise Murphy - University of Ottawa

Placement: Wilfrid Laurier University
Supervisor: Dr. Art Szabo

Photophysical Studies of 6-azaindole and 6-azatryptophan

Analogues of the aromatic amino acid Tryptophan when incorporated into proteins have been shown to be useful in the study of protein-protein interactions. The laboratory has recently shown that 6-azatryptophan (6AW) can also be biosynthetically incorporated into proteins. The spectroscopic and photophysical properties of 6AW have not been extensively investigated. In order to understand the properties of this analogue when incorporated into a protein this project has involved the study of 6AW and the parent indole, 6-azaindole, in a variety of solution conditions. The experiments include characterization of their absorption and fluorescence properties at different pH values, determining the different pKa's as well as the study of their behaviour in solvents of different polarity such as acetonitrile and methanol. Both steady state and time resolved fluorescence measurement will be performed.