Describe in detail which solute displayed the highest rate of diffusion through the 200 MWCO membrane in dialysis.
The electronic simulation provides information on the passage of water as well as solutes through semipermeable membranes. We are providing with information regarding the beakers filled with solute in addition to deionized water. As per the info the left beaker will be filled with solutes and the right beaker will be filled with deionized water. We are as well provided with four different molecular weight cut-offs (MWCO) and they are 20, 50, 100 as well as 200. MWCO defines the molecular weight at which a compound will be 90% retained following overnight (17-hour) dialysis. The MWCO is determined by testing several different proteins of known molecular weight. MWCO indirectly determines the pore size.
Simple diffusion is a process in that the diffusion of the solute particles dissolved in water through a differentially permeable membrane as a result of their random thermal motion. If the diffusion of water occurs through semipermeable membrane it is termed as Osmosis. The movement of material in both the process involves the movement of molecules from the region of its higher attentiveness to the region of its lower concentration that is down its concentration gradient. To discover the solutes which passed from left beaker to the right through the semipermeable membrane we have to discover the molecular weight of the provided molecules solutes. The solutes providing are NaCl, Urea, Albumin and Glucose. NaCl does not move as a molecule, it dissociates to Na+ and Cl- ions in water. Let us now prepare the molecular weight of dissimilar solutes provided to us to find out whether it can pass through the given MWCO or not.
Molecular weight of NaCl - 58.44
Molecular weight of Na - 22.990
Molecular weight of Cl - 35.453
Molecular weight of Urea - 60.07
Molecular weight of Albumin - 66.430 kDa
Molecular weight of Glucose - 180.15588
Which solute exhibited the highest rate of diffusion through the 200 MWCO membrane?