Chromatographic separation methods have gained in popularity with the development of more and more robust support materials. Zirconia supports are particularly well regarded due to their superior particle and pore size stability and low costs.
200um zirconia beads have become widely utilized tools in molecular biology, microbial research, tissue homogenization and mechanical cell disruption applications for genomics, proteomics and environmental microbiology research.
Particle Size
A&A Biotechnology’s zirconia beads Sigma provide an outstanding alternative to other products on the market, boasting superior durability, chemical resistance, consistency, and are designed to work seamlessly with most standard automated liquid handling systems – perfect for cell culture applications.
Zirconia exhibits three allotropic modifications, namely monoclinic (m-ZrO2), high-temperature tetragonal (t-ZrO2) and cubic (c-ZrO2). When stabilizers are added to pure zirconium it becomes possible to form tetragonal ceramics; one such metal oxide that has become popularly used is yttria; this also enhances bulk zirconia ceramic’s mechanical properties and mechanical strength.
The morphology and porosity of tetragonal zirconia can be controlled by various factors, including its calcination temperature, dopant concentration and composite intermediate filament composition. Synthesis of micro- and giga-porous zirconia supports using polymer-induced colloidal aggregation (PICA) and oil emulsion processes was explored, while its support morphology and porosity was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion-extrusion porosimetry and nitrogen adsorption-desorption sorptometry techniques.
Zirconia nanofiber mats fabricated using different ZrAA/PAN mass ratios show similar phase composition and size of t-ZrO2 grains; however, their average diameter increases as ZrAA/PAN decreases; this suggests that hardness and Young’s modulus of these zirconia fiber mats depend heavily upon their microstructure, average diameter, phase composition and microstructure composition.
Pore Size
Zirconia bead pore sizes are determined by both physical and chemical influences. Particle density plays a key role here; additionally, surface area and geometry also influence it.
To better understand these factors, we used periodic model carbon-based pore systems with cylindrical, slit and cubic geometries and conducted grand canonical and NVT Monte Carlo simulations of their properties using grand canonical and NVT Monte Carlo simulations at temperatures between 77 K and 26 MPa for each simulation; H2 adsorption at these pressures was simulated while average diameters and windows between inner and surface pores as well as average window sizes were also calculated for each system.
Studies were performed to examine the impact of pore size on cell penetration of beads. For beads with smaller pores, cells tended to crowd at the edges and only penetrate through narrow windows near its center; on the contrary, those with larger pores had more even distribution throughout.
Additionally, live and dead cells were determined using a fluorescence microscope with LIVE/DEAD staining. Data revealed that cells with smaller pores succumbed more rapidly; those in beads with larger pores proved more viable due to better transportation of oxygen and nutrients to them.
Density
Zirconia beads come in various particle sizes and materials. Their design makes them compatible with multiple laboratory systems including Sherlock AX and FastPrep 24 mechanical homogenizers as well as cell lysis protocols for molecular biology, microbiology, and proteomics research.
Density refers to the mass/volume ratio of these beads. High density beads typically allow more bead volume to fit into one tube at once and shorten homogenization times as a result.
Heavy sulfated zirconia displays excellent selectivity for esterifying LA to isopropyl levulinate (IPL), but does not possess sufficient Lewis acid character to catalyze the CTH step and thus reactively formed IPL accumulates. This change in reactivity can be observed through its steep decline in selectivity at iso-conversion for surface S loadings >1 weight percent, evident by its steep drop in selectivity to GVL at iso-conversion for iso-conversion for surface S loadings >1 weight percent.
Chemical Composition
Zirconia beads are made using premium quality raw materials through a unique production process involving titration rolling into blanks and high temperature sintering to form phase formation. This produces uniformly toughened zirconia grains characterized by medium to high density that are also known for high grinding efficiency, creating beads with smooth surface finishes for excellent stability and consistency.
The end product is free from impurities and exhibits excellent chemical resistance, making it perfect for cell disruption, sample preparation and protein extraction applications in molecular biology, microbiology and environmental research. Sigma zirconia beads can also be integrated with laboratory systems like Sherlock AX mechanical disruption instruments to facilitate these functions; cell lysis protocols as well as those needing protein extraction are suitable applications of these beads in genomics, proteomics and environmental microbiology research are among their many uses.
Under non-denaturing cell disruption conditions, zirconia-silica beads of 0.5 mm successfully isolated proteins from T. chuii as demonstrated by silver nitrate staining of SDS-PAGE gels (Fig. 3A). Sonication prior to bead milling did not significantly enhance protein yield or recovery rates.
The catalytic composite hydroxyethyl cellulose membrane loaded with sulfated zirconia achieved 95% conversion value for esterification reactions between levulinic acid and ethanol, suggesting its superior performance at esterification reactions with higher reaction temperature, lower catalyst concentration and longer reaction duration than commercial sulfated zirconia powders.
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