Introduction to Agarose gel

Agarose is one of the two principal components of agar, and is purified from agar by removing agar’s other component, agaropectin.

Chemistry – Agarose, the gelling fraction, is a neutral linear molecule essentially free of sulfates, consisting of chains of repeating alternate units of ß-1,3-linked- D-galactose and a-1,4-linked 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose.

Agarose is a polysaccharide that can be used to form a gel (often used to separate molecules based on size). Basically, agarose behaves like gelatin. Scientists can heat and cool a mixture of agarose to form a gel.

What do we mean by the term ‘gel’?

A gel is a solid jelly-like soft material that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state. By weight, gels are mostly liquid, yet they behave like solids due to a three-dimensional cross-linked network within the liquid. It is the crosslinking within the fluid that gives a gel its structure (hardness) and contributes to the adhesive stick (tack). In this way, gels are a dispersion of molecules of a liquid within a solid medium. The word gel was coined by 19th-century Scottish chemist Thomas Graham by clipping from gelatine^.

Use of Agarose gel in cleaning

Agarose gels, through capillary action, can be used as a slow, controlled cleaning method.

It has been established that agarose gels can be the best method for cleaning in following cases:

1. if the textile requires a special chemical compound for stain removal, such as enzymes,
2. for stains on textiles in danger of dye bleed
3. controlled or spot cleaning where there are small exposed areas of textile in between metal thread embroidery.

Example