Chemical Properties
The imidazole sidechain of histidine has a pKa of approximately 6.0, and, overall, the amino acid has a pKa of 6.5. This means that, at physiologically relevant pH values, relatively small shifts in pH will change its average charge. Below a pH of 6, the imidazole ring is mostly protonated as described by the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation. When protonated, the imidazole ring bears two NH bonds and has a positive charge. The positive charge is equally distributed between both nitrogens and can be represented with two equally important resonance structures.
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