Steric Exclusion of Salts by Polyethylene Glycol

Chan Wha Kim, James T. Someren, Michelle Kirshen, Chokyun Rha

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    8 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The solubility of salt in water decreases in the presence of a water soluble polymer, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and could be expressed by a linear relationship between the logarithm of the solubility of salt (M) and the concentration of PEG (M). The slope of the solubility lines was in agreement with the excluded volume of PEG calculated with the rod-like model of PEG. The solubility limit of each salt in the PEG-free solvent (solvent unoccupied by PEG) remained constant regardless of the concentration of PEG. Therefore, the solubility of salt in PEG solutions may be described by the excluded volume effects of PEG. This suggests that PEG sterically excludes salt, thus salt is concentrated in the accessible solvent up to the solubility limit.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)11-20
    Number of pages10
    JournalPhysics and Chemistry of Liquids
    Volume18
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1988 Feb 1

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This research was supported in part by NSF grant No. CBT-8705974 “A New Separation Process for Biotechnological Products: Interfacial Condensation in Aqueous Bi-Phasic Systems.”

    Keywords

    • Excluded volume
    • polyethylene glycol
    • solubility of salt

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
    • Condensed Matter Physics
    • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
    • Materials Chemistry

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