Surfactant from commercial agarose

Isolation of microbubble glycopeptide surfactant from commercial agarose and forest soil... 

The isolated proteinaceous surfactants, obtained from commercial agarose powder and forest soil extract, were found to have extremely similar total amino acid compositions. Table 4.2 summarizes the amino acid values obtained from four determinations for each of the two surfactant preparations it can be seen that the rather unusual amino acid ratios obtained (among 17 different amino acids) for the two separate cases closely resemble one another. Specifically, in both of these cases the relative amounts of the different amino acids identified (excluding tryptophan which is completely destroyed during acid hydrolysis) were as follows glycine serine > aspartic acid (and/or aspara-... 

Subsequent experimental work in this laboratory was aimed at the systematic development of an efficient method for isolating the proteinaceous surfactants, which help stabilize natural microbubbles, from both commercial agarose powder and from forest soil samples collected locally. Successful isolation of this glycopeptide fraction was eventually achieved (ref. 322), and the results obtained from an extended program of chemical analysis, to further characterize and compare chemically these proteinaceous surfactants from both natural substances, are described below. 

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