Salting Out - Principle

Principle

There are hydrophobic amino acids and hydrophilic amino acids in protein molecules. After protein folding in aqueous solution, hydrophobic amino acids usually form protected hydrophobic areas while hydrophilic amino acids interact with the molecules of solvation and allow proteins to form hydrogen bonds with the surrounding water molecules. If enough of the protein surface is hydrophilic, the protein can be dissolved in water.

When the salt concentration is increased, some of the water molecules are attracted by the salt ions, which decreases the number of water molecules available to interact with the charged part of the protein. As a result of the increased demand for solvent molecules, the protein-protein interactions are stronger than the solvent-solute interactions; the protein molecules coagulate by forming hydrophobic interactions with each other. This process is known as salting out.

Soaps are easily precipitated by concentrated salt solution, the metal ion in the salt reacts with the fatty acids forming back the soap and glycerol.

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