Experimental Method to Distinguish between a Solution and a Suspension

Dispersion of objects in a fluid phase can be classified as solutions (Gibbs free energy of mixing, Delta G(mix) < 0) or suspensions (Delta G(mix) > 0) depending on their thermodynamic stability. Small objects tend to form solutions, larger ones suspensions, e.g., molecules versus micrometer-sized colloids. Proteins and nanomaterials fall between these two size regimes. The long-standing issue of whether proteins and nanoparticles are dissolved or suspended remains an important research question. Here, a simple, versatile, and experimentally robust method, based on sedimentation equilibrium analytical ultracentrifugation (SE-AUC), which can determine whether proteins, nanoparticles, or polymers form solutions or suspensions, is presented. SE-AUC determines the osmotic pressure profile for a dispersion. Such a profile for solutions (equilibrium one-phase systems) is independent of the initial and the operating conditions. The opposite is true for suspensions that are nonequilibrium two-phase systems. This study proves that bovine serum albumin and lysozyme form solutions while ferritin and apoferritin form suspensions.

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Francesco Stellacci, Quy Ong Khac, Xufeng Xu, Ting Mao, Paulo Henrique Jacob Silva
2022
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Abstract

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https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/294725?ln=en

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Related concepts (11)

Gibbs free energy

In thermodynamics, the Gibbs free energy (or Gibbs energy as the recommended name; symbol ) is a thermodynamic potential that can be used to calculate the maximum amount of work, other than pressure-volume work, that may be performed by a thermodynamically closed system at constant temperature and pressure. It also provides a necessary condition for processes such as chemical reactions that may occur under these conditions. The Gibbs free energy is expressed as where p is pressure, T is the temperature, U is the internal energy, V is volume, H is the enthalpy, and S is the entropy.

Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to nanotechnology, leveraging advances in materials metrology and synthesis which have been developed in support of microfabrication research. Materials with structure at the nanoscale often have unique optical, electronic, thermo-physical or mechanical properties.

Chemical stability

In chemistry, chemical stability is the thermodynamic stability of a chemical system. Thermodynamic stability occurs when a system is in its lowest energy state, or in chemical equilibrium with its environment. This may be a dynamic equilibrium in which individual atoms or molecules change form, but their overall number in a particular form is conserved. This type of chemical thermodynamic equilibrium will persist indefinitely unless the system is changed. Chemical systems might undergo changes in the phase of matter or a set of chemical reactions.