Tunable Molecular Sieving in Gel Electrophoresis Using a Poly(ethylene glycol)-Based Hydrogel

Abstract

To achieve a tunable molecular sieving in gel electrophoresis, novel hydrogels consisted of a poly(ethylene glycol) based crosslinker and ionic monomers were developed. The gels showed specific shrinking regarding ionic solutions by suppressing an ionic repulsion in the gels as our previous report. Additionally, the intermolecular interactions such as hydrophobic interaction and π-π stacking among the adsorbed solutes also affected the specific shrinking of the gels. These gels were evaluated in gel electrophoresis using several glucans and DNA base pairs to examine the possibility of the molecular sieving. The gel prepared without ionic monomers showed the various separations depending on the differences of crosslinking degree. Also, the gel prepared with acrylic acid provided the various separation patterns of glucans based on the molecular sieving by simply changing pH of the buffer solutions for electrophoresis.