Active proton transfer through membrane proteins is accomplished by shifts in the acidity of internal amino acids, prosthetic groups, and water molecules. The recently introduced step-scan attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR/FT-IR) spectroscopy was employed to determine transient pKa changes of single amino acid side chains of the proton pump bacteriorhodopsin. The high pKa of D96 (>12 in the ground state) drops to 7.1 +/- 0.2 (in 1 M KCl) during the lifetime of the N intermediate, quantitating the role of D96 as the internal proton donor of the retinal Schiff base. We conclude from experiments on the pH dependence of the proton release reaction and on point mutants where each of the glutamates on the extracellular surface has been exchanged that besides D85 no other carboxylic group changes its protonation state during proton release. However, E194 and E204 interact with D85, the primary proton acceptor of the Schiff base proton. The C==O stretching vibration of D85 undergoes a characteristic pH-dependent shift in frequency during the M state of wild-type bacteriorhodopsin with a pKa of 5.2 (+/-0.3) which is abolished in the single-site mutants E194Q and E204Q and the quadruple mutant E9Q/E74Q/E194Q/E204Q. The double mutation E9Q/E74Q does not affect the lifetime of the intermediates, ruling out any participation of these residues in the proton transfer chain of bacteriorhodopsin. This study demonstrates that transient changes in acidity of single amino acid residues can be quantified in situ with infrared spectroscopy.