Exp 9: Photosynthesis Pigment Separation and Thin Layer Chromatography

I. Introduction
Photosynthesis is the most important series of chemical reactions that occurs on earth. Photosynthesis is a complex chemical process that converts radiant energy (light) to chemical energy (sugar). A summary equation for photosynthesis is given here: light 6 CO2 + 12 H2O C6H12O6 + 6 H2O + 6 O2 Carbon Water chlorophyll Sugar Water Oxygen Dioxide Thus, photosynthesis is the light-dependent and chlorophyll-dependent conversion of carbon dioxide and water to sugar, water, and oxygen. Oxygen is released to the environment, and sugar is used to fuel growth or is stored as starch. Light must be absorbed before its energy can be used. A substance that absorbs light is a pigment. The primary photosynthetic pigments that absorb light for photosynthesis are chlorophylls a and b. However, chlorophylls are not the only photosynthetic pigment; accessory pigments such as carotenes and xanthophylls also absorb light and transfer energy to chlorophyll a. The light energy absorbed by accessory pigments is transmitted to chlorophyll. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is a technique for separating dissolved compounds such as chlorophyll, carotene, and xanthophyll. When a solution of these pigments is applied to strips of slide, the pigments adsorbed onto the silica gel of the slide surface. As the solvent moves through the spot of applied pigments, the pigments dissolve in the moving solvent. However, the pigments can't always keep up with the moving solvent --- some pigments move almost as fast as the solvent, whereas others move more slowly. A pigment's molecular size, polarity, and solubility determine the strength of this tendency; pigments adsorbed strongly move slowly, whereas those adsorbed weakly move fastest. Thus, each pigment has a characteristic rate of movement, and the pigments can be separated from each other. The relationship of the distance moved by a pigment to the distance moved by the solvent front is specific for a given set of conditions. We call this relationship the Rf and define it as follows: Distance moved by pigment Rf = Distance from pigment origin to solvent front

This Rf is constant for a given pigment in a particular solvent-matrix system.

II. Materials and Methods

A. Materials: 1. Leaves of spinach 2. Acetone 3. Methanol 4. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) 5. Ethyl ether

6. Petroleum ether 7. Na2SO4 B. Equipment: 1. TLC Plates (E. Merck, Silica Gel 60 F254) 2. Filter paper (Whatman No. 1 Filter Paper) 3. Chromatograph jar 4. Mortar with pestle 7. Beaker 8. Pasteur pipette

III. Procedure:
C. Separate plant pigments by thin layer chromatography 1. Take 10g of fresh spinach leaves and grind them to powder with pestle in mortar. Add 20 ml of 90% acetone and keep grinding to mix well. 2. After filtration, mix well with 20 ml of petroleum ether 3. Take the supernatant to apply TLC slide. 4. Make a faint pencil line across the slide approximately 2 cm from the tip of the slide. Use a Pasteur pipette to apply one drop (ca. 2 l) of plant pigment extract over the pencil mark. Blow the drop dry and repeat this application at least 10 times. 5. Place the chromatography strip in a chamber containing chromatography solvent (petroleum ether:acetone=3:1). 6. Watch as the solvent moves up the paper. Keep the chamber capped and undisturbed during solvent movement. 7. Remove the chromatography strip before the solvent front reaches the top of the strip. Mark the position of the solvent front with a pencil and set the strip aside to dry. 8. Measure the distance from the pigment origin to the solvent front and from the origin to each pigment band. Calculate the Rf for each pigment.

IV. Question:
1. What does a small Rf value tell you about the characteristics of the moving molecules? 2. Which are more soluble in the chromatography solvent, xanthophylls or chlorophyll a? 3. Why does chlorophyll appear green?

ENZYME PURIFICATION BY SALT (AMMONIUM SULFATE) PRECIPITATION

Objectives

To recover proteins/enzymes from a solution by salting-out.

Introduction

The solubility of protein depends on, among other things, the salt concentration in the solution. At low concentrations, the presence of salt stabilizes the various charged groups on a protein molecule, thus attracting protein into the solution and enhancing the solubility of protein. This is commonly known as salting-in. However, as the salt concentration is increased, a point of maximum protein solubility is usually reached. Further increase in the salt concentration implies that there is less and less water available to solubilize protein. Finally, protein starts to precipitate when there are not sufficient water molecules to interact with protein molecules. This phenomenon of protein precipitation in the presence of excess salt is known as salting-out. Many types of salts have been employed to effect protein separation and purification through salting-out. Of these salts, ammonium sulfate has been the most widely used chemical because it has high solubility and is relatively inexpensive. Because enzymes are proteins, enzyme purification can be carried out by following the same set of procedures as those for protein, except that some attention must be paid to the consideration of permanent loss of activity due to denaturation under adverse conditions. There are two major salting-out procedures. In the first procedure, either a saturated salt solution or powdered salt crystals are slowly added to the protein mixture to bring up the salt concentration of the mixture. For example, the salt concentration reaches 25% saturation when 1 ml of the saturated salt solution is added to 3 ml of the salt-free protein solution; 50% for 3 ml added; 75% for 9 ml added; and so on. The precipitated protein is collected and categorized according to the concentration of the salt solution at which it is formed. This partial collection of the separated product is called fractionation. For example, the fraction of the precipitated protein collected between 20 and 21% of salt saturation is commonly referred to as the 20-21% fraction. The protein fractions collected during the earlier stages of salt addition are less soluble in the salt solution than the fractions collected later.

Whereas the first method just described uses increasing salt concentrations, the following alternative method uses decreasing salt concentrations. In this alternative method, as much protein as possible is first precipitated with a concentrated salt solution. Then a series of cold (near 0C) ammonium sulfate solutions of decreasing concentrations are employed to extract selectively the protein components that are the most soluble at higher ammonium sulfate concentrations. The extracted protein is recrystallized and thus recovered by gradually warming the the cold solution to room temperature. This method has the added advantages that the extraction media may be buffered or stabilizing agents be added to retain the maximum enzyme activity. The efficiency of recovery typically ranges from 30 to 90%, depending on the protein. The recrystallization of protein upon transferring the extract to room temperature may occur immediately or may sometimes take many hours. Nevertheless, very rarely does recrystallization fail to occur. The presence of fine crystals in a solution can be visually detected from the turbidity.

Equipment

Test tubes Graduated cylinder Pipets Balance Protein solution,

1. Isolation of bsa:
o o o

prepare bsa solution. (1g in 10 ml D.W) in a beaker insert a magnetic bead in the beaker. keep the beaker on magnetic stirrer

While stirring, add the saturated ammonium sulfate solution drop-wise to the protein solution until precipitates start to form. In order to record accurately the amount of ammonium sulfate solution added, the salt solution should be dispensed from a graduated pipet or a buret. It is critical to avoid the spatial nonuniformity in the salt concentration during the addition of the salt solution. Localized concentration hot spots will prematurely initiate the precipitation of other proteins and inadvertently affect the purify of the protein crystals. Record the volume of the saturated ammonium sulfate solution needed to cause precipitation. Also note that protein precipitation is not instantaneous; it may require 15--20 minutes to equilibrate. note the amount of ammonium sulfate added.