Study of interaction of a cationic protein with a cationic surfactant using solvation dynamics: Lysozyme: CTAB

Lysozyme, a cationic protein binds a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) because of hydrophobic effect. Solvation dynamics of coumarin 153 (C153) has been studied in a solution containing 0.5 wt% lysozyme and 0.8 mM CTAB. C153 does not bind to the native lysozyme and CTAB individually at these concentrations. However, C153 resides inside the lysozyme–CTAB aggregate. In this aggregate, solvation time of C153 is 600 ps which is slower than those in lysozyme alone (90 ps) and CTAB micelle alone (230 ps).