Oils used in microbatch crystallization do not remove a detergent from the drops they cover
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Updated: Aug 30, 2026

From Constructs to Crystals – Towards Structure Determination of β-barrel Outer Membrane Proteins
Published on: July 4, 2016
Thomas R M Barends1, Bauke W Dijkstra
1Laboratory of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
In microbatch crystallizations, a small volume of protein solution is placed in contact with a large volume of oil. Detergents present in the water phase may be expected to migrate into the oil phase, which could have effects on the protein in solution. A new method is described in which detergent partitioning into the oil can be checked. The accuracy of this method is sufficiently high to estimate even very low partitioning coefficients. The measurements indicate that in the case of dodecyl maltoside, no significant loss of detergent will occur.
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