Purification of adipoyl-7-amino-3-deacetoxycephalosporanic acid from fermentation broth using stepwise elution with a synergistically adsorbed modulator

Multicomponent adsorption data of a fermentation broth containing adipoyl-7-amino-3-deacetoxycephalosporanic acid (adipoyl-7-ADCA), a cephalosporin precursor for 7-ADCA, and two key impurities, alpha-hydroxyadipoyl-7-ADCA and alpha-aminoadipoyl-7-ADCA were obtained from batch equilibrium and frontal chromatography tests. Amberlite XAD-1600 was chosen as the resin. A rate model was applied to simulate the chromatograms. An alkaline buffer, which by itself has no affinity for the resin, was used as the eluent. The widely used reversed-phase modulator model is inaccurate in explaining the stepwise elution data. A new model, the induced competition model, has been developed to account for apparent retention of the buffer in the presence of adsorbed species. Close agreement between the simulations and the data was achieved with the new model.