Effects of a Magnetic Field on the Crystallization of Protein

Abstract

Many studies in applying a magnetic field to control crystal growth processes have been carried out since the 1960s; in particular, magnetic fields have been widely applied for damping convection in semiconductor melts [1–3]. However, except for this magnetic damping effect on conducting liquids, no significant phenomenon that could be attributed to a magnetic field effect was found in the field of crystal growth until the late 1990s. In recent years, rapid developments in superconducting magnets of liquid helium-free type [4] have facilitated studies of the influence of a magnetic field on crystallization. In particular, considerable attention has been paid to the application of a magnetic field to the crystallization of proteins, complex biological macromolecules for which a general method of preparing large, high quality single crystals is strongly desired. In the crystallization of protein, magnetic field effects on the orientation [5–7,9–12], crystal habit [6], number [6,8] and growth rate [13] of crystals, convection in aqueous solution [14,15], and crystal perfection [16–18] have been reported previously. In the case of organic compounds with low molecular weight, similar studies on the magnetic orientation of crystals were reported [19–21].