%0 Journal Article
%A Da Vela, Stefano
%A Braun, Michal K.
%A Dörr, Andreas
%A Greco, Alessandro
%A Möller, Johannes
%A Fu, Zhendong
%A Zhang, Fajun
%A Schreiber, Frank
%T Kinetics of liquid–liquid phase separation in protein solutions exhibiting LCST phase behavior studied by time-resolved USAXS and VSANS
%J Soft matter
%V 12
%N 46
%@ 1744-6848
%C London
%I Royal Soc. of Chemistry
%M FZJ-2017-02026
%P 9334 - 9341
%D 2016
%X We study the kinetics of the liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) and its arrest in protein solutions exhibiting a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase behavior using the combination of ultra-small angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) and very-small angle neutron scattering (VSANS). We employ a previously established model system consisting of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions with YCl3. We follow the phase transition from sub-second to 104 s upon an off-critical temperature jump. After a temperature jump, the USAXS profiles exhibit a peak that grows in intensity and shifts to lower q values with time. Below 45 °C, the characteristic length scale (ξ) obtained from this scattering peak increases with time with a power of about 1/3 for different sample compositions. This is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction for the intermediate stage of spinodal decomposition where the growth is driven by interface tension. Above 45 °C, ξ follows initially the 1/3 power law growth, then undergoes a significant slowdown, and an arrested state is reached below the denaturation temperature of the protein. This growth kinetics may indicate that the final composition of the protein-rich phase is located close to the high density branch of the LLPS binodal when a kinetically arrested state is reached.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000389322800009
%R 10.1039/C6SM01837H
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/828004