ABSTRACT
The most robust aspects of sedimentation of interacting systems are the pattern of sedimentation boundaries with their characteristic s-values and amplitudes. The appeal of sedimentation coefficient distributions for data analysis of interacting systems is that they provide a tool to home in on the most robust aspects of sedimentation of interacting systems, while presenting the opportunity to exclude contaminating signals unrelated to the process of interest. In this way, sedimentation coefficient distributions turn out to be an indispensable practical approach to the analysis of interacting systems, alternative and complementary to Lamm equation modelling. When fitting diffusion-deconvoluted sedimentation coefficient distributions to reaction boundaries, the deconvolution of diffusion is a highly useful tool to clarify the sedimentation process, but not too much emphasis should be given to the precise numerical value of the diffusion parameter, or the implied frictional ratio or buoyant molar mass.
