Fluoroalcohol – Induced coacervates for selective enrichment and extraction of hydrophobic proteins

Abstract

As previously reported, fluoroalcohols can induce coacervation in aqueous solutions of amphiphilic compounds with subsequent formation of two-phase systems, where one phase is enriched in amphiphile and fluoroalcohol and the other is primarily an aqueous – rich phase. This study focuses on the use of simple coacervates made of a single component amphiphile induced by a fluoroalcohol for extraction and enrichment of proteins. 1,1,1,3,3,3-Hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) and 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) were used to induce coacervation in the aqueous solutions of a cationic amphiphile, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or tetra-n-butylammonium bromide (TBAB). Cationic amphiphiles (CTAB, TBAB) formed two-phase coacervate systems in a basic pH and/or sufficient ionic strength depending on the strength of coacervator (HFIP or TFE). The phase diagrams for TBAB paired with HFIP or TFE coacervates were created. By increasing the concentration of coacervator (HFIP or TFE) at a constant surfactant concentration, transition from a single liquid phase to a two or multiple phase mixture, and then eventually to a single liquid phase was observed. TBAB/HFIP mixture without additives showed a unique three-phase system before transitioning to a two-phase system upon increasing HFIP concentration. However, salt addition eliminated this three-phase region and expanded the region of two-phase formation. Select two-phase systems composed of TBAB and a perfluoroalcohol (HFIP or TFE) were utilized to extract model proteins of ranging hydrophobicity. All coacervate phases extracted bacteriorhodopsin, a membrane protein, and gramicidin, a very hydrophobic polypeptide ion channel. The most hydrophilic protein in the mixture, ribonuclease A, remained in aqueous phases. The coacervates formed from TBAB/TFE/200 mM NaCl mixture and TBAB/HFIP mixture exhibited the most selectivity in extracting proteins of high hydrophobicity. The partition coefficient (P) for each protein was calculated using the ratio of the protein concentration in the coacervate to that in the aqueous-rich phases. TBAB (50 mM)/HFIP (8%, v/v) coacervate showed remarkable selectivity and a high partition coefficient (>100) for both bacteriorhodopsin and gramicidin. Thus, this system may potentially be beneficial for facile fractionation of hydrophobic and membrane proteins in proteomics applications.