THE ANALYTICAL ULTRACENTRIFUGE SPINS AGAIN

Since its inception by T. Svedberg and co-workers in the 1920's the te chnique of analytical ultracentrifugation has undergone an extraordina ry evolution, peaking in popularity in the 1950's and 1960's followed by a steady decline until the last few years with a renewal of interes t culminating in the launch of a new commercially available instrument . The technique is worthy of consideration by any analytical chemist i nterested in the characterisation of the physical behaviour of macromo lecules in solution. This article attempts to indicate the breadth of the range of different types of measurements on both bio- and syntheti c macromolecular systems that are now possible with the analytical ult racentrifuge.