Aerogels from unaltered bacterial cellulose: application of scCO2 drying for the preparation of shaped, ultra-lightweight cellulosic aerogels.

Bacterial cellulose produced by the gram-negative bacterium Gluconacetobacter xylinum was found to be an excellent native starting material for preparing shaped ultra-lightweight cellulose aerogels. The procedure comprises thorough washing and sterilization of the aquogel, quantitative solvent exchange and subsequent drying with supercritical carbon dioxide at 40 degrees C and 100 bar. The average density of the obtained dry cellulose aerogels is only about 8 mg x cm(-3) which is comparable to the most lightweight silica aerogels and distinctly lower than all values for cellulosic aerogels obtained from plant cellulose so far. SEM, ESEM and nitrogen adsorption experiments at 77 K reveal an open-porous network structure that consists of a comparatively high percentage of large mesopores and smaller macropores.

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography of proteins V. Quantitative assessment of conformational changes.

Protein adsorption during hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) may induce conformational changes. We analyzed conformational changes in three model proteins, bovine serum albumin (BSA), beta-lactoglobulin, and lysozyme by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy and pulse response experiments. Conformational changes occurred in the secondary structure of BSA, the tertiary structure of beta-lactoglobulin, and no changes occurred in lysozyme under the adsorption conditions investigated. Protein unfolding varied substantially among proteins, caused incomplete isocratic elution in HIC, and was confirmed by in situ assessments. Lower temperatures and binding capacities significantly reduced protein unfolding; the activation energy for unfolding ranged from 47 to 125 kJ/mol.

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography of proteins IV. Kinetics of protein spreading.

Adsorption of proteins on surfaces of hydrophobic interaction chromatography media is at least a two-stage process. Application of pure protein pulses (bovine serum albumin and beta-lactoglobulin) to hydrophobic interaction chromatography media yielded two chromatographic peaks at low salt concentrations. At these salt concentrations, the adsorption process is affected by a second reaction, which can be interpreted as protein spreading or partial unfolding of the protein. The kinetic constants of the spreading reaction were derived from pulse response experiments at different residence times and varying concentrations by applying a modified adsorption model considering conformational changes. The obtained parameters were used to calculate uptake and breakthrough curves for spreading proteins. Although these parameters were determined at low saturation of the column, predictions of overloaded situations could match the experimental runs satisfactorily. Our findings suggest that proteins which are sensitive to conformational changes should be loaded at high salt concentrations in order to accelerate the adsorption reaction and to obtain steeper breakthrough curves.