Reverse micellar partitioning of Bovine Serum Albumin with novel system

Abstract

To overcome the difficulties associated with the conventional extraction process like poor selective extrac- tion of biomolecule and scale up of the process, the reverse micellar system consist of AOT/n-heptanol was considered to extract Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as a model biomolecule. The maximum forward extraction of BSA from aqueous phase to micelle phase was observed at AOT concentration 160 mM, aque- ous phase pH value of 4, NaCl concentration 0.8 M and 95% back extraction of BSA from micelle phase to stripping phase was obtained at 1 M NaCl concentration with the pH of 7.5. HPLC analysis confirmed the stability of BSA during extraction. The size and water content of the reverse micelle was also reported. The obtained results emphasize the application of the AOT/n-heptanol reverse micellar system for the extraction of BSA and may be utilized for the selective extraction of similar hydrophilic proteins from the complex sources.