Electric field, separations based applications

Mixing fatty acids with fatty bases can dissolve films as the resulting complexes become water-soluble however, in some cases the mixed Langmuir film is stabilized [128]. The application of an electric field to a mixed lipid monolayer can drive phase separation [129]. 

CE, another high performance separation technique, was also proved to be a powerful tool and an alternative for HPLC in the analysis of natural dyestuffs, even if its application in this field is still considerably limited. It could play an important role especially in the analysis of artworks, as it requires a very small volume of a sample solution (a few dozen nanolitres). In CE[ 10 14] separation of charged species is based on their different migration properties along the capillary tube which is in a constant electric field. Two platinum electrodes and both ends of a narrow bore (i.d. 25 100 pm) flexible fused silica capillary (usually 60 100 cm long) filled with a suitable conducting buffer are immersed in two... 

Capillary electrophoresis systems are also likely to play an increasingly prominent analytical role in the QC laboratory (Figure 7.2). As with other forms of electrophoresis, separation is based upon different rates of protein migration upon application of an electric field. 

The first section of the book explores emerging novel aspects of HPLC and related separation methods based on the differential velocity of analytes in a liquid medium under the action of either an electric field (capillary electromigration techniques) or a gravitational field (field-flow fractionation). The section focusing on applications highlights four significant areas in which HPLC is successfully employed chiral pharmaceutical, environmental analysis, food analysis, and forensic science. 

The present chapter is devoted mainly to one of these new theories, in particular to its possible applications to photon physics and optics. This theory is based on the hypothesis of a nonzero divergence of the electric field in vacuo, in combination with the condition of Lorentz invariance. The nonzero electric field divergence, with an associated space-charge current density, introduces an extra degree of freedom that leads to new possible states of the electromagnetic field. This concept originated from some ideas by the author in the late 1960s, the first of which was published in a series of separate papers [10,12], and later in more complete forms and in reviews [13-20]. 

A number of techniques are used commercially to accelerate emulsion breakdown. Mechanical methods indude centrifugal separation, freezing, distillation and filtration. Another method is based on the principle of antagonistic action - i.e. the addition of O/W-promoting emulsifiers tends to break W/O emulsions, and vice-versa. Emulsions can also be broken by the application of intense electrical fields, the principal factors involved being electrophoresis in the case of O/W emulsions and droplet deformation in the case of W/O emulsions. 

The aim of this chapter is to cover the theoretical and practical aspects of capillary gel electrophoresis. It also provides an overview of the key application areas of nucleic acid, protein, and complex carbohydrate analysis, affinity-based methodologies, as well as related microseparation methods such as ultra-thin-layer gel electrophoresis and electric field-mediated separations on microchips. It also gives the reader a better understanding of how to utilize this technology, and determine which actual method will provide appropriate technical solutions to problems that may have be perceived as more fundamental. Micropreparative aspects and applications are discussed in Chapter 12. 

Several recent reviews have discussed the fundaments and applications of PI concepts. Doble [16] has discussed the concept of a green reactor, for example, how process intensification could be achieved by microreactor technology using very high forces, ultra-high pressures, electrical fields, ultrasonics, surfactant-based separations, shorter diffusion and conduction pathways, flow field and fluid microstmcture interactions, and/or size-dependent phenomena. 

Another electrokinetic effect is based on polarization of particles within an oscillating electrical field or field gradient (dielectrophoresis), as depicted in Fig. 13c. Dielectrophoresis is applied in many fields, e.g. for the controlled separation and trapping of submicron bioparticles [245], for the fusion and transport of cells [246], or the separation of metallic from semiconducting carbon nanotubes [13, 247-249]. Other applications are cell sorting [250, 251] and apoptosis of cells [252, 253]. 

Membrane proteins can thus be separated (and visualized) following disruption of protein interactions with other protein or lipid membrane components, by gel electrophoresis. One useful method is the layering of an SDS extract solution onto a polyacrylamide gel followed by application of an electrical field. The resulting differences in electrophoretic mobility then separates the individual proteins based on their mass (not charge). This is called SDS-polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). 

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