RK-Spectro Technical Note 52: Designing double mixing quench flow experiments

Introduction

Double mixing quench flow experiments have been extensively used for protein folding or enzyme studies during the last 15 years. This technique requires 3 mixers and thus 4 independent syringes to be efficient. Two instruments on the market can meet these specifications: QFM-5 and SFM-400/Q both of which are manufactured by BioLogic. Both instruments offer the same technical specifications in single mixing and double mixing mode but upgrade possibilities are different. QFM-5 is a dedicated chemical quench-flow instrument whereas SFM-400/Q can also be used for freeze quench studies, optical quench or as a stopped-flow instrument making it a very versatile kinetics instrument.