Gel electrophoresis of a soft particle

Abstract

A review is given on the theory of the gel electrophoresis of a spherical soft particle, i.e., the electrophoresis of a spherical hard particle covered with an ion-penetrable surface layer of polyelectrolytes moving in a polymer gel medium, which may either be charged or uncharged. A detailed study is made on the fundamental electrokinetic equations describing the soft-particle gel electrophoresis due to the long-range hydrodynamic particle-gel interaction on the basis of the Brinkman-Debye-Bueche model. A general expression and several approximate analytic expressions are given for the electrophoretic mobility of a soft particle in a polymer gel medium.

Keywords: Electrophoretic mobility; Gel electrophoresis; Polyelectrolyte layer; Polymer gel medium; Spherical soft particle.