Ion behavior in plant cell walls. I. Characterization of the Sphagnum russowii cell wall ion exchanger

Abstract

The ion-exchange properties of Sphagnum russowii cell wall material were studied in the context of the Donnan weak acid model. Titrations in the presence of Na+, Ca2+, or La3+ revealed two classes of weak acid binding sites, one with a low pK between 2 and 4 and the other with a high pK > 5. The total cation-exchange capacities of the low and high pK species were 1071 and 545 μequiv./g dry wt. wall material, respectively, and were related to the uronic, amino, and phenolic acid contents of the walls. Differences in pK estimates obtained in the presence of the different cations (pKNa > pKCa > pKLa) could not be explained by our semiarbitrary choice (1 mL/dry wt. wall material), for the effective volume (Donnan free space) bathing the exchange sites. It was concluded that valence-dependent reductions in cation activities in the wall phase are an important contributor to the differences in the pK estimates. Key words: cation exchange, cell wall, titration, Donnan model, weak acid.