Free-flow electrophoresis

Free-flow electrophoresis (FFE), also known as carrier-free electrophoresis, is a matrix-free electrophoretic separation technique. FFE is an analogous technique to capillary electrophoresis, with a comparable resolution, that can used for scientific questions, were semi-preparative and preparative amounts of samples are needed. It is used to quantitatively separate samples according to differences in charge or isoelectric point. Because of the versatility of the technique, a wide range of protocols for the separation of samples like rare metal ions, protein isoforms, multiprotein complexes, peptides, organelles, cells, DNA origami, blood serum and nanoparticles exist. The advantage of FFE is the fast and gentle separation of samples dissolved in a liquid solvent without any need of a matrix, like polyacrylamide in gel electrophoresis. This ensures a very high recovery rate since analytes do not adhere to any carrier or matrix structure. Because of its continuous nature and high volume throughput, this technique allows a fast separation of preparative amounts of samples with a very high resolution. Furthermore, the separations can be conducted under native or denaturing conditions.