Temperature Driven Macromolecule Separation by Nanoconfinement

We focused on the influence of temperature variations on macromolecule partitioning between unconfined and nanoconfined areas in nanoslits using single molecule measurements. We evaluated the number of fluorescent poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) molecules confined in glass nanoslits in several configura...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMacromolecules Vol. 47; no. 24; pp. 8754 - 8760
Main Authors De Santo, Ilaria, Causa, Filippo, Netti, Paolo A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC American Chemical Society 23.12.2014
Subjects
Applied sciences
Exact sciences and technology
Organic polymers
Physicochemistry of polymers
Properties and characterization
Solution and gel properties
Ethylene oxide polymer
Fluorescent tracer
Labelled polymer
Temperature effect
Physical separation
Nanofluidics
Aqueous solution
Experimental study
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Summary:We focused on the influence of temperature variations on macromolecule partitioning between unconfined and nanoconfined areas in nanoslits using single molecule measurements. We evaluated the number of fluorescent poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) molecules confined in glass nanoslits in several configurations by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and recorded a decreasing trend in molecule partitioning within the confined environment when increasing the temperature. The trend is size-dependent, demonstrating the manipulation and size separation of a bimodal solution of uncharged macromolecules confined in nanochannels. These findings can have an impact on molecule manipulation and concentration, so far achieved mainly adopting external fields operating on charged molecules.
ISSN:0024-9297
1520-5835
DOI:10.1021/ma501827z