Table 1.

Interaction of dextrans, nucleic acids, and proteins with PW-HGMs

Material		Mass	Dimensions	Charge	Enter interior	Bind walls
Dextran		2 MDa	28.0 nm	neutral	No	−
		500 kDa	14.4 nm	neutral	No	−
		150 kDa	8.5 nm	neutral	Yes	−
		70 kDa	6.0 nm	neutral	Yes	+++
		10 kDa	2.3 nm	neutral	Yes	+
DNA	55 nt duplex	36.3 kDa	2.2 × 18 nm	acidic	Yes	++
RNA	21 nt duplex	13.9 kDa	2.6 × 4.8 nm	acidic	Yes	+
Protein	IgG	150 kDa	5.3 nm	varies, pI 5.0–7.5	Yes	+++
	Conalbumin	75 kDa	NA	acidic, pI 5.9	Yes	+++
	Ovalbumin	43 kDa	2.7 nm	acidic, pI 4.6	Yes	+
	Carbonic anhydrase	29 kDa	NA	acidic, pI 6.6	Yes	−
	RNase A	13.7 kDa	1.6 nm	basic, pI 8.9	Yes	−
	MBP-scFv	75 kDa	NA	neutral, pI 6.8	Yes	+++

Dimensions of dextrans are from ref [33] and proteins are from ref [34]. Dimensions of RNA and DNA are based on A-helix and B-helix parameters, respectively [35]. Estimates of size and charge do not take into account fluorophore conjugation. Binding to walls was estimated visually.