Size exclusion behavior of hydroxypropylcellulose beads with temperature-dependent porosity

Beads prepared from a thermosensitive polymer, hydroxypropylcellulose, exhibit temperature-dependent porosity. At temperatures below 40 degreesC the beads are swollen having large pores, while at temperatures above 45 degreesC the beads are in a shrunken state having smaller pores. In the presence of 1 M NaCl the transition temperature decreased to about 30 degreesC. In a swollen state the size of pore is large enough to accommodate lysozyme (mol. mass 14 400) and (x-chymotrypsin (mol. mass 21 1600) but not bovine serum albumin (mol, mass 67 000). When the beads are shrunken, all the proteins are eluted from the column packed with hydroxypropylcellulose beads in the volume close to the void volume of the column. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.