An important component of the blood coagulation chain, heparin requires careful, complete characterization. Light scattering offers several methods in which to do so:
SEC-MALS with a DAWN multi-angle light scattering detector and Optilab differential refractive index detector, for absolute molar mass and size distributions
Automated electrophoretic light scattering with a Mobius, to assess charged impurities such as super-sulfated heparin (chondroitin sulfate)
Composition-gradient MALS with a Calypso and DAWN, to study binding of proteins to heparin
Hydroxyethyl starch (HES)
HES is a polysaccharide-based blood replacement manufactured from corn and potato raw materials. The two sources result in HES with different conformations arising from differing degrees of branching. SEC-MALS not only determines accurate molecular weight independent of conformation, it also quantifies the conformation and branching ratio for a deeper understanding of the two HES processes. As described by Karyakin et al., SEC-MALS is an essential component of HES quality control.
Heparin