Abstract
The solubility of ovalbumin was investigated in the presence of detergents in water and in pH 7. 4 phosphate buffer. The detergents used were sodium dodecylsulf ate (SDS), sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (LAS), sodium laurate (SL), hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and polyoxyethyleneglycol nonylphenylether (PNE). All the detergents increased the solubility of ovalbumin. The magnitude of the solubilization was in the order of PNE> LAS>SDS>CTAB in water, and PNE>SL, LAS>CTAB, SDS in phosphate buffer. Though the solubilization behavior was similar in both solvents, the solubility was larger in phosphate buffer. The inspection of cmc and molar ratio (detergent/ovalbumin) suggested that the solubilization scheme was different from that of oils and the solubilization of ovalbumin by micellar detergents was less probable. It appeared form the circular dichroism (CD) studies that there was no distinct relationship between the solubilization and the conformational change of ovalbumin by detergents.
