In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
> I am trying to find a way to calculate or estimate miscelle size of a
mix of digitonin and CHAPSO 0.08% each. I know that average miscellar
weight of digitonin is around 70kda and CHAPSO is 7kda. Any clues as to
what might be the average misceller size of 0.08% digitonin mixed with
0.08% CHAPSO?
Cholic acid derivatives form primary micelles where 2 molecules associate
sandwich-like, with the hydrophobic parts sticking together. These then
form secondary aggregates in a concentration-dependent manner with
aggregation number \bar{m} ~ 12--100, depending on concentration and
buffer composition. AFAIK there is no way to calculate \bar{m} for
mixtures of such detergents; you'd have to determine it experimentally as
function of both detergent ratio and concentration (given a particular
buffer). Suitable methods are ultracentrifugation, light scattering or
small-angle X-ray scattering. I am not sure how much such measured values
would actually tell you, due to the highly dynamic nature of micelles
\bar{m} is at best a time-average, with individual micelles being quite
diverse.
BTW, it is "micellar" and "kDa", just in case you ever want to publish
about this.
_______________________________________________
Methods mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods
