Hi Todd
I have worked in the past with crystallization of dozens of small
molecules, several of them steroids which are hydrophobic. What I did
was, first get the small molecule into the solution. The solvent can
be dimethyl formamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, chloroform or anything
that I can find on my shelf. Also hydrophobic solvents like benzene,
hexane etc.
Leave the compound in the semi-open containers and hope for crystals
to appear. Some times I also used to poison the solution by adding
other solvents that include water.
Here, I should say that steroids crystalize really well, at least
those I synthesized.
People, some times use crystallization techniques similar to protein
like hanging or sitting drops for some small molecules, particularly
those are water soluble.
Good luck
Anthony
________________________________
Anthony Addlagatta, PhD
Institute of Molecular Biology
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR-97403
Phone: (541) 346-5867
Fax: (541)346-5870
Web: http://uoregon.edu/~anthony
On Jul 18, 2007, at 2:56 PM, Green, Todd wrote:
Hello all,
I am asking this question for a colleague(a chemist not a
crystallographer) who would like to crystallize a small molecule
(for clarification this is just the small molecule not a protein
complex). The compound is quite hydrophobic and is rather "greasy."
He has a free alcohol which could be a site of modification if this
would help. I have only worked with proteins and was hoping that
someone might be knowledgible and could point me in the direction
of some help(literature, websites, etc) that might aide as a ground
level tutorial on crystallization of small molecules, and if
possible more specifically crystallization of hydrophobic/"greasy"
small molecules.
Thanks in advance-
Todd Green
University of Alabama at Birmingham
