Versatile Capillary Cells for Handling Concentrated Samples in Analytical Ultracentrifugation

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Ong, Quy, Xu, Xufeng, Stellacci, Francesco
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Ong, Quy
Xu, Xufeng
Stellacci, Francesco
author_facet Ong, Quy
Xu, Xufeng
Stellacci, Francesco
contents In concentrated macromolecular dispersions, far-from-ideal intermolecular interactions determine the dispersion behaviors including phase transition, crystallization, and liquid-liquid phase separation. Here, we present a novel versatile capillary-cell design for analytical ultracentrifugation-sedimentation equilibrium (AUC-SE), ideal for studying samples at high concentrations. Current setups for such studies are difficult and unreliable to handle, leading to a low experimental success rate. The design presented here is easy to use, robust, and reusable for samples in both aqueous and organic solvents while requiring no special tools or chemical modification of AUC cells. The key and unique feature is the fabrication of liquid reservoirs directly on the bottom window of AUC cells, which can be easily realized by laser ablation or mechanical drilling. The channel length and optical path length are therefore tunable. The success rate for assembling this new cell is close to 100%. We demonstrate the practicality of this cell by studying: 1) the equation of state and second virial coefficients of concentrated gold nanoparticle dispersions in water and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as well as lysozyme solution in aqueous buffers, 2) the gelation phase transition of DNA and BSA solutions, and 3) liquid-liquid phase separation of concentrated BSA/polyethylene glycol (PEG) droplets.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_10418
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Versatile Capillary Cells for Handling Concentrated Samples in Analytical Ultracentrifugation
Ong, Quy
Xu, Xufeng
Stellacci, Francesco
Soft Condensed Matter
Chemical Physics
In concentrated macromolecular dispersions, far-from-ideal intermolecular interactions determine the dispersion behaviors including phase transition, crystallization, and liquid-liquid phase separation. Here, we present a novel versatile capillary-cell design for analytical ultracentrifugation-sedimentation equilibrium (AUC-SE), ideal for studying samples at high concentrations. Current setups for such studies are difficult and unreliable to handle, leading to a low experimental success rate. The design presented here is easy to use, robust, and reusable for samples in both aqueous and organic solvents while requiring no special tools or chemical modification of AUC cells. The key and unique feature is the fabrication of liquid reservoirs directly on the bottom window of AUC cells, which can be easily realized by laser ablation or mechanical drilling. The channel length and optical path length are therefore tunable. The success rate for assembling this new cell is close to 100%. We demonstrate the practicality of this cell by studying: 1) the equation of state and second virial coefficients of concentrated gold nanoparticle dispersions in water and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as well as lysozyme solution in aqueous buffers, 2) the gelation phase transition of DNA and BSA solutions, and 3) liquid-liquid phase separation of concentrated BSA/polyethylene glycol (PEG) droplets.
title Versatile Capillary Cells for Handling Concentrated Samples in Analytical Ultracentrifugation
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.10418