The molecular weights (MW) of the SM-CP and SM-DP were estimated by an instrumental setup consisting of a set of a size exclusion chromatography (SEC) system coupled with a multi-detector analyzer (Wyatt Dawn DSP-F) composed of a differential refractometer and a multi-angle laser light scattering detector. The samples were injected as solutions in sodium nitrate (10 mM, pH 7.0) at the concentration of 2 mg ml−1 into the TSKgel® (GMPWXL) column and eluted at the flow gradient of 0.4 ml min−1.
The molecular weight distribution (MWD) was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (Thermo Scientific Dionex UltiMate 3000). A volume of 20 μl of each sample (50 mg ml−1) was injected onto the column (BioBasic SEC-300) and eluted using 0.1 M of phosphate buffer (pH = 7.4), already filtered, at the flow rate of 1 ml min−1. A series of reference Dextrans was used to calibrate the column.
The molecular weight distribution (MWD) was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (Thermo Scientific Dionex UltiMate 3000). A volume of 20 μl of each sample (50 mg ml−1) was injected onto the column (BioBasic SEC-300) and eluted using 0.1 M of phosphate buffer (pH = 7.4), already filtered, at the flow rate of 1 ml min−1. A series of reference Dextrans was used to calibrate the column.