Precise control of agarose media pore structure by regulating cooling rate

Abstract

A porous structure is the key factor to successful chromatography separation. Agarose gel as one of the most popular porous media has been extensively used in chromatography separation. As the cooling process in the agarose gelation procedure can directly influence the pore structure, ten kinds of 4% agarose media with different cooling rates from 0.132 to 16.7°C/min were synthesized, and the pore structure was determined accurately by using low-field NMR spectroscopy. The curves of pore structure and cooling rate can be divided into two stages with the boundary of 6°C/min. In stage I, the pore structure met a power equation with the decrease of the cooling rate, and in stage II, the process reached a plateau. Confirmatory experiments proved that, by adjusting the cooling rate, a precise control of the pore structure of agarose media can be realized, furthermore, cooling rate optimization was an effective way to control the pore size of agarose media and can further tailor the pore structure for more effective separation of different proteins.

High Thermopower of Agarose‐Based Ionic Thermoelectric Gel Through Micellization Effect Decoupling the Cation/Anion Thermodiffusion

“…[13b,34] The micellization effect of Na:DBS in the gel matrix was also used for controlling the porous structure and tailoring the rate of drug release in medical hydrogels. [35] In our case, the porosity factor of AG-x Na:DBS is around 26% which is higher than that (≈9%) of AG-0.1 m Na:Q-BS (Q = 0 and 1 alkyl units). Additionally, beneficial from the micellization effect, the 3D network structure in hybrid gels is stabilized [36] by lowering the surface tension of water in air-hydrogel interface.…”

Evaluation of techniques used for visualisation of hydrogel morphology and determination of pore size distributions

“…Agarose hydrogels form upon cooling, and the final gel structure and pore size distribution are affected by the cooling rate. 38,39 In the current study, the gel was formed with rapid cooling over 30 min from 72 to 30 °C, followed by a very slow cooling phase until the hydrogel reached 22 °C (the cooling curve was previously published 9 ). Separate agarose gels prepared from agarose solutions of various concentrations (0.38–2.0% w/v) are referred to as agarose gels of the respective concentration.…”

Thermoresponsive hydrophobic copolymer grafted on agar microspheres for all‐aqueous bioseparations

“…Thermoresponsive polymers have been grafted on silica , polymers, or agarose beads for separation of biomolecules. Agarose is widely used due to its excellent biocompatibility and hydrophilicity , good tolerance to high pH, and abundant hydroxyl groups . Agarose is obtained from agar; the cost of agar was 50–100 times lower than agarose .…”