APPLICATION OF INTEGRAL-EQUATION THEORY TO AQUEOUS 2-PHASE PARTITIONING SYSTEMS

A molecular-thermodynamic model is developed for representing thermodynamic properties of aqueous two-phase systems containing polymers, electrolytes, and proteins. The model is based on McMillan-Mayer solution theory and the generalized mean-spherical approximation to account for electrostatic forces between unlike ions. The Boublik-Mansoori equation of state for hard-sphere mixtures is coupled with the osmotic virial expansion truncated after the second-virial terms to account for short-range forces between molecules. Osmotic second virial coefficients are reported from low-angle laser-light scattering (LALLS) data for binary and ternary aqueous solutions containing polymers and proteins. Ion-polymer specific-interaction coefficients are determined from osmotic-pressure data for aqueous solutions containing a water-soluble polymer and an alkali chloride, phosphate or sulfate salt. When coupled with LALLS and osmotic-pressure data reported here, the model is used to predict liquid-liquid equilibria, protein partition coefficients, and electrostatic potentials between phases for both polymer-polymer and polymer-salt aqueous two-phase systems. For bovine serum albumin, lysozyme, and alpha-chymotrypsin, predicted partition coefficients are in excellent agreement with experiment.