Electrical conductivity of single crystals of lysozyme

The dc electrical conductivity of large single crystals of hen egg‐white lysozyme has been measured. The samples were grown from aqueous solution and dried in air with silica gel. The temperature dependence of the conductivity obeyed the relation σ = σ0 exp(− ΔE/kT), with ΔE = 1.2 eV. The ΔE value agreed with most of the previous results for various proteins in the form of lyophilized powder. On the other hand, log σ0, being between 7 and 11, was much larger than the previously reported values and differed among the samples. An irreversible decrease in σ0, without affecting ΔE, was observed on heating the samples above 85°C. It was shown that the set of results can be explained if the charge carriers responsible for the observed conduction are regarded as protons, originating from residual water molecules. Photoresponse of the samples to uv radiation below 305–315 nm was also observed. Reproducible and reliable results were obtained relatively easily in the present experiments, which is thought to be the main advantage of using single‐crystalline samples.