Effect of electrostatic energy on partitioning of proteins in aqueous two-phase systems

An attempt has been made to adopt a different approach to evaluate the effect of a protein’s charge on its partitioning behaviour in PEG/salt aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS). This has been done using a computer methodology (DelPhi) that allows the calculation of the electrostatic solvation energy that charged proteins present in a particular media such as aqueous polymer–salt systems. This calculation was done for the protein in each of the phases and a correlation was investigated that related the electrostatic energy difference of the protein in each of the phases and its partition coefficient in ATPS. Such correlation resulted in a statistical model that also included the effect of molecular weight and a shape factor at each particular pH. A global correlation which included the effect of pH was also found. All the correlations were statistically evaluated and gave good results.