Abstract
THE application of the principle of electrophoretic separation on paper to steroids is limited by their relatively low polarity, so that they do not readily migrate under the influence of an electric current, and also by their sparing solubility in aqueous media. By converting the steroids into derivatives with polar groupings, some separation has been achieved (Voigt and Beckmann1, 1953, using the hemisuccinates; McKinley2, 1955, using the mono- and di-phenylhydrazone derivatives). Our early experiments, begun before the publication of these authors' results, were along similar lines, and with somewhat similar results. It did not seem likely, however, that electro-phoretic separation would be so convenient a method as chromatography, which has been adapted by Lembart and Schneider3 for the separation on paper of mixtures of pure steroid conjugates. The natural occurrence of more polar steroid derivatives, the sulphates and glucuronides in urine, suggested to us that these might undergo electrophoretic separation on paper. Although the individual steroids could not be resolved, the two groups of conjugates were sharply separated.
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References
Voigt, K. D., and Beckmann, I., Acta Endocrinol., 13, 19 (1953).
McKinley, W. P., Science, 121, 139 (1955).
Lembart, N. L., and Schneider, J. J., Nature, 176, 1175 (1955).
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LEVIN, B., DAVIES, G. Separation of Steroid Conjugates by Paper Electrophoresis. Nature 178, 918 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/178918a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/178918a0
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