Molten Proteins: Surface-modified liquid protein with liquid-crystalline properties
Monday, August 17, 2009 - 09:56
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- Proteins are solids. When heated they do not melt; instead, they decompose or sublime directly to the gas phase at low pressures. They cannot be converted into a liquid form unless they are dissolved in a solvent. A team at the University of Bristol (UK) and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Golm (Germany) has now successfully liquefied a protein without the assistance of a solvent. As the research team headed by Stephen Mann reports in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the trick is to modify the surface of the protein with a polymeric surfactant.