Depletion theory and the precipitation of protein by polymer
Soft Condensed Matter
2008-08-04 v1 Biomolecules
Abstract
The depletion theory of nanoparticles immersed in a semidilute polymer solution is reinterpreted in terms of depleted chains of polymer segments. Limitations and extensions of mean-field theory are discussed. An explicit expression for the interaction between two small spheres is derived. The depletion free energy for a particle of general shape is given in terms of the capacitance or effective Stokes radius. This affords a close to quantitative explanation for the effect of polymer on protein precipitation.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0807.4997,
title = {Depletion theory and the precipitation of protein by polymer},
author = {Theo Odijk},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0807.4997},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
4 pages, 1 figure