Washing through hydrophobic molecules

Bit of a long-shot, but thought I would ask as you never know...

I am using microcon centrifuge filters to seperate catalase from some solutions. That bit works fine, but I am finding that the membrane on the filter is retaining some of the other molecules in the solution that I do not want to filter (and hence messing up my concentrations in the filtrate). The molecules in question are acetylated homoserine lactones (AHLs). From their structure, I believe them to be hydrophobic. Does anyone know of an appropriate solution that I could use to wash these AHLs out of the membrane?

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lol, i have no idea...

what are you doing anyway?

remember that stasitically speaking... biology experiments have a probility higher than 1 that they will fail...

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Grrrrr....why do I like biology again?

Perhaps it's cuz you love to do unpaid lab work in the holidays...

It's paid - scholarship

AHLs are hydrophobic, but they are still soluble enough to pass through the membrane. They do this all the time as part of their role in Quorum Sensing.

I don't really see what you are doing. Exposing AHLs to reactive species, and then seeing whether they can still activate gene expression? If this is the case why do you need to purify out the AHLs in the first place?