abstract
A large number of works has been devoted to the study of alternative constituents to form aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS); however, scarce attention has been given to polyols as two-phase forming components. This work addresses the potential use of polyols (glycerol, erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol and maltitol) to create ATPS in presence of acetonitrile. Novel ternary phase diagrams were determined at 298 K and the impact of the polyol chemical structure through the liquid-liquid demixing was evaluated. It is shown that the ability for phase separation largely depends on the number of hydroxyl groups present in each polyol. Polyols with a higher number of hydroxyl groups are better phase separating agents increasing thus the ability for two-phase formation. The partitioning of a model biomolecule, vanillin, was also assessed to ascertain on these systems applicability as alternative extractive techniques. In all systems, vanillin preferentially migrates to the acetonitrile-rich phase (more hydrophobic layer) with recoveries higher than 89%, except to glycerol. This pattern was confirmed by solid-liquid solubility studies of vanillin in aqueous solutions containing diverse polyols supporting thus their phase separating ability. These novel systems can be used as alternative ATPS for the extraction and recovery of added-value biomolecules. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
keywords
PREPARATIVE RP-HPLC; BIPHASIC SYSTEMS; IONIC LIQUIDS; SUGAR ALCOHOLS; ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY; POLYETHYLENE-GLYCOL; PROTEIN SEPARATION; VANILLIN; WATER; PURIFICATION
subject category
Engineering
authors
Cardoso, GD; Souza, IN; Mourao, T; Freire, MG; Soares, CMF; Lima, AS
our authors
Mara Guadalupe Freire Martins
Coordinating ResearcherProjects
acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa e Inovacao Tecnologica do Estado de Sergipe - FAPITEC for the financial support and scholarship of G.B. Cardoso, and CNPq for the scholarship of I.N. Souza. The authors also thank Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) for the projects PTDC/QUI-QUI/121520/2010 and Pest-C/CTM/LA0011/2011.