Poly-N-acryloyl-Tris gels as anticonvection media for electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing.

We describe in detail the synthesis of an acrylic monomer, N-acryloyl-tris(hydroxy-methyl)aminomethane (NAT), which was successfully used for the preparation of gels for electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing. The polymerization kinetics and transparency of the poly(NAT) gels crosslinked by N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (Bis) are also shown. Poly(NAT)-Bis gradient (4-24%) gel resolves proteins according to their size. The exclusion limit of this gel is slightly over 3 X 10(6), which is more than threefold higher than the exclusion limit of the polyacrylamide gradient gel of the same concentration. The gel made of 6% NAT and 3% Bis represents a suitable matrix for isoelectric focusing. These results demonstrate that poly(NAT)-Bis gels could be advantageously used in those applications where the extensive sieving by the polyacrylamide matrix is not desir desirable.