Complex coacervation between lysozyme and pectin: Effect of pH, salt, and biopolymer ratio

Macro- and Microphase Separated Protein-Polyelectrolyte Complexes: Design Parameters and Current Progress

“…By zeta potential measurements, it was determined that the L–L systems were observed closer to a charge neutral state than the gel systems. It was observed that in the L–L system, the gelatin molecules were in the coil state but in the gel system, they were in the helix state [76,77]. Similar changes in the nature of phase separation have also been observed in polyelectrolyte–protein systems [41,86,97].…”

“…Upon phase separation, the protein-containing dense phase can be a liquid, a viscoelastic gel, or an amorphous precipitate [77,89,96]. Designing a system that creates the desired condensed phase upon phase separation is, therefore, of critical importance.…”

“…Light scattering techniques such as DLS and static light scattering (SLS) are also common techniques to characterize PEC micelles. Small angle scattering techniques (SANS and SAXS), have been used to characterize micelle and droplet morphology [74,77]. Zeta potential measurements have been used to identify the optimal macromolecule ratio for phase separation by determining when the complexes approach charge neutrality [48,80,81,149,150].…”

“…The nature of phase separation can be characterized using microscopy. Optical microscopy is commonly used to identify the nature of macrophase separation while transmission electron microscopy has the resolution (<0.2 nm) to resolve the nature of phase separation in the core of a PEC micelle [32,35,41,49,74,77,119,151]. Analyzing the protein component in the protein–polyelectrolyte complexes is also of great importance.…”

Binary Solutions of Hyaluronan and Lactose-Modified Chitosan: The Influence of Experimental Variables in Assembling Complex Coacervates

“…The phase behavior of two oppositely charged polymers in a mixture depends primarily on their molecular properties (i.e., molecular weight and charge density), polymers' weight ratio and physical-chemical features of the surrounding environment (i.e., pH, ionic strength and temperature) [4,5]. A plethora of micro-/nano-structures assembled via complex coacervation are documented in the literature, for instance stimuli responsive nanocapsules made of alginate and chitosan [6,7] or those based on the interaction between chitosan and hyaluronic acid [8,9], polysaccharides and proteins [5,[10][11][12], or simple coacervation involving a single polymer and a multivalent ion [13].…”