Department of Chemistry ‘IFM’, University of Torino, Italy; 2Department of Biology, University ‘Roma Tre’, Rome, Italy; 3Department of Structural and Functional Biology, University of Insubria, Italy Haem binding to human serum albumin (HSA) endows the protein with peculiar spectroscopic properties. Here, the effect of ibuprofen and warfarin on the spectroscopic properties of ferric haem –human serum albumin (ferric HSA–haem) and of ferrous nitrosylated haem –human serum albumin (ferrous HSA –haem-NO) is reported. Ferric HSA–haem is hexa-coordinated, the haem-iron atom being bonded to His105 and Tyr148. Upon drug binding to the warfarin primary site, the displacement of water molecules 2 buried in.
