Jacob,
Actually, there is no real definitive compendium of detergents and
their properties (solubility, CMC, aggregation number, etc.).
Because of their importance to industry, commercial compendia, as
Anatrace's catalog, are often the most complete. However, most
commercial compendia are not focused on the detergents we are
interested in; they want to make dishes cleaner while protecting your
hands (i.e., SDS is good). One of the best sources for detergent
information of all sorts is Surfactants and Interfacial Phenomena by
M. J. Rosen, but is is dated and out of print, I believe.
Academic sources are few and often have circular citations. I can
name several cases in the more popular reviews that cannot be traced
back to a original reference. All the real biochemists and chemists
who really brought detergents into biochemistry are retired (e.g.,
the Reynolds) or moved on to other things (e.g., Helenius). Lastly,
even when academics measure the properties of a detergent, the work
is not generally published, aside from being buried deeply in a
thesis or is so specific to certain conditions that the information
may not be very useful.
One alternative is to enlist Anatrace and its parent USB, for
example, to set up a Wiki for depositing detergent information and
notes. Thus, anyone who has primary data on detergents could place
it there with relevant experimental details. In the spirit of full
disclosure, I still consult with Anatrace and have provided them with
some of my group's primary data on detergents.
Best regards,
Michael
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R. Michael Garavito, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
513 Biochemistry Bldg.
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1319
Office: (517) 355-9724 Lab: (517) 353-9125
FAX: (517) 353-9334 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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On Oct 22, 2007, at 5:48 PM, Jacob Keller wrote:
Dear CCP4BB,
Although this is not exactly CCP4-related, I thought somebody here
might know whether there is somewhere a definitive list or
tabulation of detergent properties which are not simply copied out
of catalogs, but have been traceably experimentally determined. In
particular, it would be great to have phase diagrams for common
detergents with detergent concentration versus pH, salt
concentration, temperature, etc. Would this not be incredibly
helpful for the scientific community? And yet, this is not so easy
to find....
Jacob
*******************************************
Jacob Pearson Keller
Northwestern University
Medical Scientist Training Program
Dallos Laboratory
F. Searle 1-240
2240 Campus Drive
Evanston IL 60208
lab: 847.467.4049
cel: 773.608.9185
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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