Spectrometric and voltammetric studies of the interaction between quercetin and bovine serum albumin using warfarin as site marker with the aid of chemometrics

The interaction of quercetin, which is a bioflavonoid, with bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated under pseudo-physiological conditions by the application of UV-vis spectrometry, spectrofluorimetry and cyclic voltammetry (CV). These studies indicated a cooperative interaction between the quercetin-BSA complex and warfarin, which produced a ternary complex, quercetin-BSA-warfarin. It was found that both quercetin and warfarin were located in site I. However, the spectra of these three components overlapped and the chemometrics method - multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) was applied to resolve the spectra. The resolved spectra of quercetin-BSA and warfarin agreed well with their measured spectra, and importantly, the spectrum of the quercetin-BSA-warfarin complex was extracted. These results allowed the rationalization of the behaviour of the overlapping spectra. At lower concentrations ([warfarin]<1x10(-5) mol L(-1)), most of the site marker reacted with the quercetin-BSA, but free warfarin was present at higher concentrations. Interestingly, the ratio between quercetin-BSA and warfarin was found to be 1:2, suggesting a quercetin-BSA-(warfarin)(2) complex, and the estimated equilibrium constant was 1.4x10(11)M(-2). The results suggest that at low concentrations, warfarin binds at the high-affinity sites (HAS), while low-affinity binding sites (LAS) are occupied at higher concentrations.