Hydrophobic partitioning approach to efficient protein separation with magnetic nanoparticles.

A novel approach to the hydrophobic partitioning effect on efficient separation of protein such as BSA was demonstrated by the modification of hydrophobic pockets on the surface of silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles with various alkyl groups at various pH levels. The separation efficiency is strongly reflected and can be attained by controlling the size of the hydrophobic pocket and other factors such as the alkyl chain length, the salt concentration, and the pH levels. Furthermore, the adsorption constant (k(ad)) was calculated for the hydrophobic partitioning interaction between BSA and the hydrophobic pocket size at various pH levels.