Physically crosslinked copolymer compounds and related compositions and methods for electrophoretic separation

1. A method of using a linear acrylamide copolymer compound for separation of nucleic acid components, said method comprising:

providing an aqueous medium comprising a linear acrylamide copolymer comprising a first monomeric component of a formula CH 2 C(R 1 )C(O)NR 1 ′R 1 ″ wherein R 1 is selected from H and methyl moieties; and R 1 ′ and R 1 ″ are independently selected from about H, C 1 to about C 4 linear alkyl moieties, C 1 to about C 4 substituted linear alkyl moieties, C 1 to about C 4 branched alkyl moieties, and C 1 to about C 4 substituted branched alkyl moieties; and a second monomeric component of a formula CH 2 C(R 2 )C(O)NR 2 ′R 2 ″ wherein R 2 is selected from H and methyl moieties; and R 2 ′ and R 2 ″ are independently selected from H, C 1 to about C 24 linear alkyl moieties and C 1 to about C 24 branched alkyl moieties, providing at least one of R 2 ′ and R 2 ″ is at least about C 6 ;

introducing said medium to one of a microchannel electrophoresis capillary and a microfluidic sequencing chip; and

contacting a mixture comprising at least one of DNA sequence components and RNA sequence components with said medium at an applied voltage and for a time at least partially sufficient for electrophoretic separation of said mixture.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the molar mass of said copolymer ranges from about 1 million to about 12 million g/mole.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said copolymer concentration ranges from about 0.1 to about 5.0 wt. %, and said second monomeric component ranges from about 0.1 to about 5.0 mole percent of said copolymer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said first monomeric component is acrylamide and said monomeric component is N, N-dihexylacrylamide.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said second monomeric component ranges from about 0.13 to about 4.3 mole percent; and wherein said copolymer is in an aqueous medium, said copolymer concentration ranging from about 2.5 to about 4.5 wt. %.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein said mixture comprises double-stranded DNA sequence components ranging from about 50 to about 850 base pairs.

7. A method of using a hydrophobic monomeric moiety of a linear acrylamide copolymer to effect nucleic acid separation, said method comprising:

providing an aqueous separation medium comprising a copolymer as used in the method of claim 1 , said second monomeric component present at a mole percent at least partially sufficient to provide said second monomeric component hydrophobic character in said medium;

introducing said medium to one of a microchannel electrophoresis capillary and a microfluidic sequencing chip; and

contacting a mixture comprising at least one of DNA sequence components and RNA sequence components, said components selected from at least one of single-stranded and double-stranded components, with said medium at an applied voltage and for a time at least partially sufficient for electrophoretic separation of said mixture.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said copolymer concentration is adjusted for said mixture.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said copolymer concentration provides a substantially intermolecular physical cross-linking interaction of at least one of said R 2 ′ and R 2 ″ moieties of said second monomeric component.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein said copolymer concentration is less than a concentration providing said intermolecular interaction.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein increasing said second monomeric component mole percent decreases time of said separation.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein said introduction comprises application of shear force pressure to reduce said copolymer viscosity.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein one of said capillary and said chip is treated with a hydroxyethylacrylamide osmotic flow component.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the said osmotic flow component is a first monomeric component of said copolymer.