Of matrices and men

Matrices used in modern electrokinetic techniques are surveyed. They are essentially three: cellulose acetate, agarose and polyacrylamide gels. The use of cellulose acetate is confined mostly to analyses in clinical chemistry labs. The properties of agarose are discussed, in particular its capacity of forming large-pore structures via supercoiling, i.e. formation of suprafibers with average radii of approximately 20-25 nm. Several modified agaroses are reviewed, in particular the SeaPlaque, SeaPrep, NuSieve, NuFix, Seakem and Isogel brands and a composite agarose-polyacrylamide matrix, quite popular in the seventies for DNA and RNA separations. The field of polyacrylamide gels seems to be bursting, with the large number of crosslinkers described, imparting special properties to such matrices. The properties of new, modified acrylamide monomers, little known in the field of electrophoresis, are evaluated; in particular: trisacryl gels, hydroxyalkyl methacrylate gels and acryloylmorpholine-bisacrylylpiperazine gels, the latter formed by amphiphilic monomers, highly resistant to alkaline hydrolysis. The properties and formulas of a host of acidic and basic acrylamido derivatives (11 of them) used as buffers and titrants for isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients are reviewed here for the first time. The review culminates with a glimpse at a new generation of amphiphatic matrices, such as HydroLink and 'shielded hydrophobic phase' gels, which appear to be the latest developments in the fields of electrophoresis and chromatography, respectively.