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Figure 1
Diagram depicting the procedure used to prepare the poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) gel and embed the crystals within it. (a) 0.6 mg of PEO is weighed into the back end of a 250 µl syringe and the PEO powder is then evenly distributed throughout the syringe by tapping the syringe while the syringe is horizontal (not shown). (b) The crystal precipitant (50 µl) is then added via a pipette to the back end of the syringe and the plunger is inserted. (c) The 250 µl syringe containing the precipitant solution and PEO is then connected to a 100 µl syringe via a syringe coupler (Cheng et al., 1998BB13) and the PEO is mixed until the suspension becomes clear by pushing the plungers of each syringe back and forth. The desired amount of PEO gel is then pushed into the 100 µl syringe and the syringe coupler is disconnected. (d) A second 100 µl syringe containing a concentrated slurry of crystals is connected to the 100 µl syringe containing the PEO gel and the crystals are then embedded into the gel by pushing the plungers back and forth until the mixture is homogenous.

IUCrJ
Volume 4| Part 4| July 2017| Pages 439-454
ISSN: 2052-2525
https://doi.org/10.1107/S205225251700570X