Colliding and reacting molecules and colloids electrophoretically

A method of electrophoretically colliding reagents, comprising:

• providing a matrix that is a porous solid material having continuously interconnected pore regions that are filled with an electrolyte solution, said matrix and said electrolyte being suitable for performing electrophoresis;
• loading a first reagent in a first reagent-loading-region centered at a first spatial location in said matrix;
• loading a second reagent in a second reagent-loading-region centered at a second spatial location that is displaced from said first spatial location by a first displacement-distance in said matrix;
• and
• applying an electric field to said matrix loaded with said first reagent and said second reagent,
• wherein said applying said electric field causes electrophoretic propagation in said electrolyte solution through said continuously interconnected pore regions of at least a portion of said first reagent and electrophoretic propagation in said electrolyte solution through said continuously interconnected pore regions of at least a portion of said second reagent,
• wherein said electric field is applied for a first period of time sufficiently long that at least a portion of said first reagent collides with at least a portion of said second reagent to yield a first collision in a first collision-region centered at a first collision-location within said matrix as a consequence of said electrophoretic propagation,
• wherein a first electric field line of said electric field passes through said first reagent-loading-region and said second reagent-loading-region,
• wherein said first displacement-distance is sufficiently large that said first reagent-loading-region is separate from said second reagent-loading-region,
• wherein a first electrophoretic mobility of said at least a portion of said first reagent in said matrix of said porous solid material filled with said electrolyte solution is different from a second electrophoretic mobility of said at least a portion of said second reagent in said matrix of said porous solid material filled with said electrolyte solution,
• wherein said applying an electric field applies an electric field strength that is uniform and unidirectional in said matrix,
• wherein said first electric field line passes through said first spatial location and said second spatial location,
• wherein said applying said electric field is subsequent to said loading said matrix with said first reagent and said loading said matrix with said second reagent,
• wherein said applying said electric field causes an ionic electrical current in said electrolyte solution,
• wherein said electric field strength is sufficiently strong to cause said first collision in said first period of time,
• wherein said porous solid material comprises at least one of an electrophoretic gel, a polymeric gel, a crosslinked polymeric gel, an agarose gel, a polyacrylamide gel, a porous silicate glass, a nanoporous solid, a microporous solid, and an open-pore solid foam,
• wherein a characteristic pore size of said porous solid material is less than about 100 microns,
• wherein said electrolyte solution comprises an aqueous buffer solution having a prespecified buffer concentration and a prespecified buffer pH,
• wherein said matrix is shaped in the form of a three-dimensional prismatic slab having a slab thickness,
• wherein said matrix has a first well devoid of said porous solid material centered at said first spatial location,
• wherein said matrix has a second well devoid of said porous solid material centered at said second spatial location,
• wherein said first reagent-loading-region is limited by said first well,
• wherein said second reagent-loading-region is limited by said second well,
• wherein a maximum spatial dimension of said first well is less than a maximum spatial dimension of said three-dimensional prismatic slab,
• wherein a maximum spatial dimension of said second well is less than a maximum spatial dimension of said three-dimensional prismatic slab,
• wherein said loading said first well comprises fluidically injecting a first fluid containing said first reagent at a first reagent-concentration into said aqueous buffer solution in said first well,
• wherein said loading said second well comprises fluidically injecting a second fluid containing said second reagent at a second reagent-concentration into said aqueous buffer solution in said second well, and
• wherein said first and second fluids are miscible with water;
• further comprising providing an electrophoretic chamber of a solid chamber-material suitable for receiving said matrix and suitable for filling with said electrolyte solution;
• filling said electrophoretic chamber with said electrolyte solution;
• immersing said matrix in said electrolyte solution within said electrophoretic chamber,
• wherein said solid chamber-material is electrically insulating, is impermeable to said electrolyte solution, and is non-reactive chemically with said electrolyte solution, said first reagent, and said second reagent,
• wherein said applying said electric field comprises applying a voltage between a first electrode in contact with said electrolyte solution and a second electrode in contact with said electrolyte solution inside said electrophoretic chamber, thereby causing an ionic electrical current to flow through said electrolyte solution within said matrix loaded with said first reagent and said second reagent,
• wherein said first electric field line lies along a straight line between said first spatial location and said second spatial location,
• wherein said first well in said three-dimensional prismatic slab in said matrix has a first well-shape that is a first rectangular prism,
• wherein said second well in said three-dimensional prismatic slab in said matrix has a second well-shape that is a second rectangular prism,
• wherein said fluidically injecting said first fluid containing said first reagent into said first well yields a first band of said first reagent,
• wherein said fluidically injecting said second fluid containing said second reagent into said second well yields a second band of said second reagent,
• wherein said first reagent has a first concentration inside said first band that is higher than outside said first well subsequent to said loading and prior to said applying said electric field,
• wherein said second reagent has a second concentration inside said second band that is higher than outside said second well subsequent to said loading and prior to said applying said electric field,
• wherein said first well-shape has a smallest spatial dimension along said first electric field line at said first spatial location,
• wherein said second well-shape has a smallest spatial dimension along said first electric field line at said second spatial location,
• wherein said applying said electric field causes electrophoretic propagation of at least one of at least a portion of said first band of said at least a portion of said first reagent and at least a portion of said second band of said at least a portion of said second reagent,
• wherein said electrophoretically colliding reagents comprises an electrophoretic band-collision of at least a portion of said first reagent and at least a portion of said second reagent at said first collision-location in said matrix immersed in said aqueous buffer solution,
• wherein a first reaction-product is produced by a first reaction that consumes at least a portion of a first reactant from among said portion of said first reagent and at least a portion of a second reactant from among said portion of said second reagent,
• wherein said first reaction occurs within said continuously interconnected pore regions filled with said electrolyte solution at said first collision-location within said matrix,
• wherein said first reaction-product is different from either of said first reactant and said second reactant,
• wherein said first reaction resulting from said electrophoretic band-collision yields a first reaction-product-band containing said first reaction-product at said first collision-location;
• further comprising illuminating at least one of said first reagent, said second reagent, and said first reaction-product in said matrix with electromagnetic radiation;
• and
• detecting at least one of photoluminescence, chemiluminescence, electroluminescence, radioluminescence, bioluminescence, scattered electromagnetic radiation, reflected electromagnetic radiation, unabsorbed electromagnetic radiation, transmitted electromagnetic radiation, polarized electromagnetic radiation, frequency-shifted electromagnetic radiation, sum-frequency electromagnetic radiation, gamma electromagnetic radiation, fluorescent electromagnetic radiation, and phosphorescent electromagnetic radiation as a consequence of an interaction of said electromagnetic radiation with at least one of said first reagent, said second reagent, and said first reaction-product,
• wherein said illuminating with said electromagnetic radiation comprises photonic illumination that is at least one of single-wavelength light, multi-wavelength light, gamma-ray-wavelength light, x-ray-wavelength light, extreme ultraviolet light, deep ultraviolet light, ultraviolet light, visible light, full spectrum visible light, infrared light, far infrared light, extreme far infrared light, microwave light, intensity-controlled light, laser light, light-emitting-diode light, halogen light, optical-parametric-oscillator light, scanned-beam light, scanned-sheet light, wide-area light, polarized light, coherent light, incoherent light, directional light, focused light, collimated light, temporally intensity-modulated light, temporally polarization-modulated light, and spatially-uniform light,
• wherein said detecting is accomplished using a detector that is at least one of an image sensor, a digital array detector, a digital camera, a color digital video camera, a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector, a CMOS detector, a photodiode array detector, an avalanche photodiode detector, an avalanche photodiode array detector, a low-noise actively-cooled digital camera, a digital array detector sensitive to infrared light, a digital array detector sensitive to ultraviolet light, a digital array detector sensitive to visible light, a spectrometer, an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, a Raman spectrometer, a spectrophotometer, an imaging spectrometer, a multi-spectral camera, a hyperspectral camera, a phosphor-optical digital array detector, and a fiber optic spectrometer;
• and
• further comprising constructing a space-time plot of said electrophoretic band-collision, wherein a first spatial axis of said space-time plot encodes distance along said electric field in said matrix, and a second spatial axis of said space-time plot encodes time elapsed subsequent to said applying said electric field, and wherein at least one of an intensity, a color, and a frequency from said detector is recorded on said space-time plot as a function of said first spatial axis and said second spatial axis.