Subject: Re Help pK and membrane

From: [email-masked]
Date: 7 Dec 93 18:05:52 EDT

The pK of phospholipid would depend on the state of membrane
in the following way:
PL-head group would have diffrent water shells if protoneted.
that would make it a "smaller/bigger head group".
That would change packing parameters.
The position of the PL-head group in the membrane and the 
allowed space for the water shells would then define 
its prefference to go throu a protonation - therefore its pK.
Using this argument one can try to understand all membrane
bound molecules, since these are al in polar environments 
where packing and geomtrical parameters play important role.
To give credits to the source: I heard this in advanced biomembrane 
chemistry course by M. F. Roberts from Boston College.
if this is not clear nor is it a reference
Send me a msg. to [email-masked] and you can get contact info. 
			Ofer