Actually I may have misunderstood the original post. Patrick never said oils
block O2 diffusion:
On 03/18/2015 09:47 AM, Edward A. Berry wrote:
The microbatch-under-oil method is very handy for anaerobic work:
(In a glove box, of course)
1. You can keep the microbatch stock solutions in normal microtitre plates
(polypropylene is best to reduce evaporation) for months, which hugely reduces
the amount of degassing that you need to do. You will only use say 0.5 ul of
stock per drop.
(reagents including oils stored in a tray in the glove box to reduce
degassing time)
2. The oil offers a surprising amount of protection from oxidation, which
may be helpful eg in harvesting.
Perhaps by the O2-buffering effect of anoxic oil that Tristan mentioned, and by
preventing an air/water interface where a skin forms and interferes with
harvesting.
3. Microbatch can be automated - in parallel to vapor diffusion if desired
And now as an aside, the advantages of oil for aerobic (oxic) work:
It's amazing how often (aerobic) microbatch produces far superior crystals to
V.D. for no obvious reason - it's well worth trying for both screening and
optimization.
If that was what was meant I apologize, but at least this will prevent someone
else from getting the wrong Idea as I did.
eab
