Abstract
Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) have the advantages of environmentally friendly, high mass transfer efficiency, and mild extraction conditions. However, it is difficult to recycle these polymers, which limits the large-scale application of ATPS. In this study, a novel recyclable ATPS was constructed with thermo-responsive polymer PN and pH-responsive polymer PADB4.78 for the partition of tea saponin. PN represents poly-(N-isopropylacrylamide), and PADB4.78 represents poly-(acrylic acid-dimethylamine ethyl methacrylate-butyl methacrylate), where 4.78 in the subscript indicate the isoelectric point of the polymer. The recoveries of PN and PADB4.78 were 95.36% and 93.48%, respectively, after two cycles. Meanwhile, the phase formation mechanism of ATPS was studied by surface tension and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). The effects of polymer concentration, pH, temperature, types and concentrations of salt were investigated on tea saponin partition. In the 1.5% (w/v) PN/3.5% (w/v) PADB4.78 ATPS, the optimal partition coefficient (K) of crude tea saponin were 0.15 in the presence of 1.5 mM KCl at pH 7.6 and 25 °C while the extraction recovery (ERb) reached 92.13%. The K and ERb of tea saponin from tea seeds were 0.12 and 94.50% with 7.5 mM LiBr at pH 8.0 and 25 °C, respectively.
Highlights
Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) are composed of immiscible two components in water which are formed when the systems reach equilibrium
In order to solve above problems, some polymers responsive to light, temperature and pH have been synthesized in our laboratory, which can be conveniently recycled by adjusting environmental factors and used to construct novel recyclable ATPS [12,13,14]
The results proved that the PADB4.78 was polymerized by butyl methacrylate (BMA), Dimethylamino-ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and acrylic acid (AA)
Summary
Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) are composed of immiscible two (or more) components in water which are formed when the systems reach equilibrium. ATPS are a novel separation and extraction technology with higher water content, lower interfacial tension, non-toxic, environmentally friendly comparing with traditional liquid-liquid extraction [1,2,3]. It has been extensively studied in the extraction and purification of downstream products, for example, nanoparticles [4], proteins [5], antibiotics [6], biological molecules [7]. In order to solve above problems, some polymers responsive to light, temperature and pH have been synthesized in our laboratory, which can be conveniently recycled by adjusting environmental factors and used to construct novel recyclable ATPS [12,13,14]. The above research have proved that the novel ATPS provides a broad application prospect for the extraction and separation of biomolecules
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