Dependence of CMC of SDS micelles on Sodium Chloride and in the presence of some amino acids

Abstract

Detergents are organic amphipathic molecules containing “hydrophobic tail” and “hydrophilic head” groups. Critical micelle concentration (CMC) is known as the concentration of detergent in bulk at which micelles start to form. At above CMC, the detergent micelles are used as a solvent for structural studies of hydrophobic peptides/proteins in NMR spectroscopy. The CMC of detergents is a critical parameter and it determines the size of the molecular complex, which is a critical factor in NMR. In this research, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is used to study the CMC at variable NaCl concentrations and in the presence of polar, non-polar, and charged amino acids.