Hello guys,
Currently i am having problems of dissolving my solid organic extracts in 4% DMSO. The organic extracts were prepared and extracted using Choloform:Methanol (1:1) and treated under rotary evaporator.
When dissolving it with DMSO, the extracts tend to be stick and showing hydrophobic property. How to dissolve these extracts?
I did encountered some researchers that recommend to use sonication bath or ultrasonic sonication bath. Is this safe without altering the initial biochemicals within the extracts?
Looking forward for your advise.
Thank You.
Best Regards.
Zulfadhli
DMSO tends to be a great solvent, but you're going to need to entice your extract to dissolve into it. We use sonication to do this, and in my experience have not had problems with composition changes.
DMSO is pretty viscous, so that is likely why it's being so sticky. Also, because DMSO dissolves so many things, there is a high probability that you are dissolving something that is hydrophobic, so interactions with water might not go so well, and may be what you're seeing.
4% seems like a relatively low percentage of DMSO to dissolve in. You could always add more, but be careful with this, as it can be a problem to get to evaporate again (usually lyophilization or high/vac). If you're doing this for a bioassay, try to suspend a small amount of the sample in a higher percentage of DMSO and then diluting this to your bioassay concentration.
The use of sonication will not affect the composition of your extract (under normal use conditions: power and time), it accelerate and facilitate to dissolution. I advise to use the solvents used in extraction to dissolve your extract for further analyses. If your next step is antimicrobial tests, you should evaluate the effect of the solvents used either DMSO or others for control.
Good Luck
sonication generates heat it may affect chemical nature of compounds especially terpenes
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