Covalent and non-covalent binding in vanadium–protein adducts

Abstract

The ESI-MS and EPR results obtained during the study of systems containing vanadium–protein adducts have been explained integrating the spectrometric and spectroscopic responses with molecular modelling simulations. The representative systems formed by the potential antibacterial drug [V^IVO(nalidixato)₂(H₂O)] with lysozyme and cytochrome c were fully characterized, interpreting the ESI-MS and EPR signals as the result of covalent and non-covalent binding. This behaviour should be considered for all metal–protein systems, and instrumental techniques – if necessary – should be coupled with modelling to achieve full characterization of the types of binding.