Effect of sodium chloride on solutesolvent interactions in aqueous polyethylene glycolsodium sulfate two-phase systems

Partition behavior of eight small organic compounds and six proteins was examined in poly(ethylene glycol)-8000sodium sulfate aqueous two-phase systems containing 0.215 M NaCl and 0.5 M osmolyte (sorbitol, sucrose, TMAO) and poly(ethylene glycol)-10000sodium sulfate0.215 M NaCl system, all in 0.01 M sodium phosphate buffer, pH 6.8. The differences between the solvent properties of the coexisting phases (solvent dipolarity/polarizability, hydrogen bond donor acidity, and hydrogen bond acceptor basicity) were characterized with solvatochromic dyes using the solvatochromic comparison method. Differences between the electrostatic properties of the phases were determined by analysis of partitioning of sodium salts of dinitrophenylated (DNP-) amino acids with aliphatic alkyl side-chain. The partition coefficients of all compounds examined (including proteins) were described in terms of solutesolvent interactions. The results obtained in the study show that solutesolvent interactions of nonionic organic compounds and proteins in polyethylene glycolsodium sulfate aqueous two-phase system change in the presence of NaCl additive.

AcknowledgmentsNuno da Silva acknowledges the financial support by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) of the Portuguese’s Ministryfor Science, Technology and Higher Education, in the framework ofthe Operational Program COMPETE (PTDC/EQU-FTT/120332/2010) and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013. Pedro P. Madeira acknowledges the financial support in partprovided by (i) FCT/MEC, FEDER under Program PT2020 (Project UID/EQU/50020/2013) and (ii) QREN, ON2 and FEDER, under Pro-gram COMPETE (Project NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-0000011).