Solubility of α-amino acids in water under high pressure: glycine, l-alanine, l-valine, l-leucine, and l-isoleucine

The solubility of glycine, l-alanine, l-valine, l-leucine, and l-isoleucine in water was measured at 298.15 K and pressures up to 400 MPa. The standard deviation of the logarithm of the solubility is 0.001–0.003, equal to or better than the accuracy of atmospheric pressure measurement in the literature (0.001–0.05). A variety of solubility phenomena were observed. The solubility of glycine decreased with increasing pressure, whereas that of l-alanine increased. The l-valine and l-isoleucine have a solubility maximum at around 100 MPa, and l-leucine seems to exhibit a solid-phase phase transition at around 200 MPa. Pressure coefficient of the solubilities at 0.10 MPa is compared with that thermodynamically estimated in reference to aqueous density measurements of glycine and l-alanine at 298.15 K and 0.10 MPa, supporting a reliability of our high-pressure measurements.