Abstract

Haemoglobin A was acetylated using acetyl-3,5-dibromosalicylic (dibromoaspirin). The acetylated haemoglobin showed enhanced solubility compared to the unmodified haemoglobin and its solubility was found to increase with temperature in the range 13°-37°C. From the plot of log solubility against the reciprocal of temperature, the DH° was calculated to be 23.74 and 30.06 kJmol^-1, for the modified and unmodified haemoglobin respectively. This indicates a reduction in the DH° for the modified species. Since the solubility of haemoglobin is enhanced by acetylation with dibromoaspirin, dibromoaspirin might be an effective antisickling agent when administered at optimum temperature.

Key words: Haemoglobin, acetyl-3,5-dibromosalicylic acid, protein, sickle cell anaemia, antisickling agent.