A GENERAL-METHOD FOR THE PREPARATION OF MIXED MICELLES OF HYDROPHOBICPEPTIDES AND SODIUM DODECYL-SULFATE

A new method is reported for the incorporation of hydrophobic peptides into sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) micelles. First, a homogeneous sol ution of peptide and detergent is obtained by adding the peptide in tr ifluoroethanol to an equal volume of an aqueous solution of SDS. Upon subsequent addition of excess water, mixed peptide-SDS micelles are fo rmed. Next, all solvent is removed by lyophilization and an appropriat e amount of water is added to the dry powder. For various hydrophobic peptides this was shown to yield clear and stable solutions that are h ighly concentrated and suitable for characterization by spectroscopic techniques.