M. Wahlgren et al., THE INTERACTIONS IN SOLUTION BETWEEN NONIONIC SURFACTANTS AND GLOBULAR-PROTEINS - EFFECTS ON CLOUD POINT, Journal of dispersion science and technology, 18(4), 1997, pp. 449-458
The effects of protein addition (lysozyme and bovine serum albumin) on
surface tension reduction and cloud point of a surfactant (Pentaethyl
eneglycol Mono n-Dodecyl Ether (C12E5)) were studied. The minimum surf
ace tension was in all cases 27 mN/m but was reached at a higher surfa
ctant concentration for the BSA/C12E5 solution than for the pure surfa
ctant or the lysozyme/surfactant mixture, indicating that C12E5 binds
to BSA but not to lysozyme. It was estimated that BSA bound four to fi
ve molecules of C12E5. Only BSA seemed to have any large effect on the
cloud point of the surfactant and above a certain critical protein to
surfactant ratio the clouding is totally suppressed. The results impl
ies that the presence of protein influences the clouding only if surfa
ctant binds to the protein.