Two dimensional benzyldimethyl-n-hexadecylammonium chloride----sodium dodecyl sulfate preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis: a high capacity high resolution technique for the purification of proteins from complex mixtures.

A two dimensional preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis system is described which has both high resolving power and high loading capacity (approximately 100 mg protein). The first dimension is electrophoresis toward the cathode at acid pH in the presence of the cationic detergent benzyldimethyl-n-hexadecylammonium chloride (16-BAC), and the second dimension is electrophoresis toward the anode in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. Proteins purified in this way have been sequenced and used successfully as antigens.