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Gel electrophoresis of synthetic polyelectrolytes
Abstract
Studies of the electrophoretic transport of charged macromolecules have been performed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in gel electrophoresis and to discriminate among various theories which attempt to describe chain motion in gels. Experiments with high molecular weight, synthetic polyelectrolytes establish gel electrophoresis as a viable technique for characterizing polymers according to chain length distribution. Mobility has been measured as a function of degree of polymerization, electric field strength, gel concentration, ionic strength, chain topology, and charge density. Trends for synthetic polyelectrolytes, principally poly(styrenesulfonate), qualitatively match those observed for DNA. By comparison of the electrophoretic mobility of polyions in the absence and presence of a gel, the importance of interactions between polymer and gel fibers is demonstrated. High resolution separations which occur in the presence of a gel are a result of interactions of between the polyion and gel fibers. The frequency of such interactions is influenced by the size of the polymer chain relative to the mesh spacing in the gel matrix. Entanglement of the polymer in the matrix plays a fundamental role in the separation process. Variations in mobility among chains with different topologies (linear, star-branched, and circular molecules) provide strong evidence for the recently proposed "entropic barriers" transport theory for weakly entangled chains. For highly entangled linear polymers, theories based on reptation appear to predict the proper scaling dependence of mobility on chain length at low electric field strengths.
Subject Area
Polymer chemistry|Chemical engineering|Analytical chemistry
Recommended Citation
Smisek, David Louis, "Gel electrophoresis of synthetic polyelectrolytes" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9120944.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9120944