Polymeric supports for affinity chromatography and high-performance affinity chromatography

Affinity chromatography is the most selective chromatographic method for the purification of biologically active materials. It is based on the biospecific interaction of the substrates with a ligand, which is chemically immobilized onto a suitable matrix (support). Different matrices provided by natural and synthetic polymers are used for the preparation of affinity supports. In this communication we describe and compare the properties of various supports based on polysaccharides, polyacrylamides and inorganic materials. In particular, we discuss the utility of different silica derivatives (especially primary hydroxyl silica) for the immobilization of ligands and high-performance affinity chromatography.     

High-performance liquid chromatography of proteins using chemically-modified silica supports

Summary Highly efficient and fast exclusion-chromatographic separations of proteins are possible on chemically-modified, silica stationary phases. By optimizing the pH and the ionic strength of the aqueous eluent secondary interactions of the samples with surface groups can be excluded. Bonded propylamide groups proved to possess optimum properties for exclusion chromatography. With other functional groups adsorption effects cannot be excluded totally. The optimum pore size distribution for protein separation up to relative molecular masses of 500,000 daltnons is between 10nm and 50nm. With these silica-based phases the pore size distribution, the pore volume and the packing characteristics are independent of the eluent, therefore the same column can be used with aqueous as well with organic eluents. It is possible to correlate the elution volume (molecular size) of proteins with those of polystyrene standars. The recovery of the proteins and their biological activity has always been better than 90%. The potentialities of adsorption chromatography of proteins on chemically-bonded stationary plases with different functional groups are demonstrated.     

Characterization of internal surface reversed-phase silica supports for liquid chromatography

Internal surface reversed-phase (ISRP) supports synthesized from commercially available porous silica particles with a variety of nominal pore diameters and specific surface areas are characterized with regard to physical and chromatographic properties. Bonded phase coverage, pore size, capacity and efficiency measurements are made upon the various ISRP supports in order to evaluate the effect that the physical properties of silica have upon the chromatographic performance of ISRP packings. In addition, various models that describe the pore structure of silica supports are discussed.     

Epoxy-functionalized large-pore SBA-15 and KIT-6 as affinity chromatography supports

Mesoporous silica supports are proposed as an alternative to polymeric stationary phases for fast affinity chromatography due to their better mechanical strength compared to polymers. Ideal supports should combine high surface area and large pore size to allow a high loading capacity of large molecules, such as proteins, and favor their accessibility. Increasing the pore size of large-surface area micelle-templated silicas (SBA-15, KIT-6) has been achieved by swelling the micelles by the addition of organic molecules and increasing synthesis time and temperature. The pore size of hexagonal silica mesostructured SBA-15 has been increased up to 35 nm. These materials could find therefore application as affinity chromatography for immunoextraction.     

Study of affinity supports based on reactive polymers immobilized on silica: affinity constant determination from isocratic zonal elution.

Polymers bearing benzamidine moieties have been prepared from reactive copolymer containing chloroformate functions and deposited on porous silica matrices. These high-performance affinity chromatography supports were characterized by quantitative methods, which analyse the zonal elution behaviour of trypsin in the presence of a soluble competitor (L-arginine). The column loading capacity for trypsin was measured by the zonal elution method in mass overload conditions. On the basis of a Langmuir isotherm, the influence of the protein capacity and the concentration of the soluble ligand on the elution volume was studied for the determination of the binding constants. The plate heights determined for silica supports of various porosities and particle diameters show that the strong affinity interactions between trypsin and p-aminobenzamidine are mainly responsible for the low efficiencies observed.     

Porous ceramic bed supports for fused silica packed capillary columns used in liquid chromatography

Porous ceramic bed supports for fused silica packed capillary columns utilized in liquid chromatography were prepared by polymerizing solutions containing potassium silicate in-situ within a column to create a mechanically stable, rugged, and easily constructed termination. The effect of the bed support length on efficiency, and comparisons to glass wool bed supports, were considered in terms of column efficiencies and hydrodynamic variables. Results obtained indicate better performance for the ceramic bed support.     

Affinity chromatography of fibroblast growth factors on coated silica supports grafted with heparin.

Dextran-coated silica beads are excellent supports for affinity chromatography of proteins. They can be easily grafted using conventional coupling methods with different active ligands, such as heparin. Fibroblast growth factors develop specific interactions with heparin through well-defined amino acids sequences. The heparin-dextran coated silica phases exhibit an affinity for these growth factors. Under our experimental conditions, the basic form can be absorbed on the solid support at a moderate salt concentration (0.5 M sodium chloride) and can be selectively desorbed by increasing the ionic strength of the eluent. The purification performances of such phases are compared to those obtained on the heparin grafted soft gels. Because of their mechanical properties, the dextran-coated silica supports were also used in high-performance affinity chromatography to purify fibroblast growth factors from a bovine brain crude extract.     

Synthesis and characterization of novel internal surface reversed-phase silica supports for high-performance liquid chromatography

An original synthetic method was developed for the preparation of a family of six novel deactivated restricted-access materials (RAMs), belonging to the group of the internal surface reversed-phase (ISRP) supports. The supports (ISRP-RAM phases A-F) have an alkyl-chain (14 methylenes) with two embedded ureido groups bound only to the internal surfaces of the porous silica, and polyvinyl alcoholic groups (PVA, 100,000-->22,000 molecular weight) chemically bound to the external surfaces. The average pore diameters of the prepared ISRP-RAM supports, calculated by inverse size-exclusion chromatography, ranged between 49 A and 88 A, and were able to exclude macromolecules heavier than about 24000 Da (such as serum proteins) from the pores. The novel supports were designed for the determination of a semi-synthetic anticancer drug of the camptothecin family in human plasma, but they represent universal ISRP-RAM supports not limited to such class of compounds.     

Immobilization of Fv antibody fragments on porous silica and their utility in affinity chromatography.

Recent advances in molecular biology have allowed antibody binding domains to be cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The use of Fv antibody fragments as ligands in immunoaffinity chromatography is reported. Fv fragments specific for hen-egg lysozyme were immobilized on porous silica and used to recover antigen from spiked serum in a single step. Comparison with a conventional immunoadsorbent (whole antibodies immobilized on silica) showed the Fv-silica to have a fivefold superior capacity. Analysis of sectioned Fv-silica particles by immunoelectron microscopy indicated that captured antigen was evenly distributed throughout the internal porous structure of the particle.     

Synthesis of mixed-functional-phase silica supports for liquid chromatography and their applications to assays of drugs in serum

Mixed-functional-phase (MFP) silica supports were designed for the direct injection determination of drugs in serum. The MFP silicas were synthesized from porous silica materials in three or four steps: introduction of 3-glycidoxypropyl phases, introduction of phenyl, butyl or octyl phases and hydrolysis of the oxirane ring to diol phases, or these three steps plus further introduction of glycerylpropyl (i.e., diol) phases. Although the further introduction of glycerylpropyl phases resulted in a reduction in the column efficiency, serum proteins were completely recovered in the first injection of serum samples. The prepared MFP packing materials can be used for the direct injection determination of hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs in serum.     

High-performance affinity chromatography of oligonucleotides on nucleic acid analogue immobilized silica gel columns.

The nucleic acid analogues poly(9-vinyladenine) (PVAd), poly(9-adenylethyl methacrylate) and poly(thymylethyl methacrylate) (PTM) were chemically bonded to porous silica gel, which had been pretreated with 3-trimethoxysilylpropyl methacrylate, by free radical copolymerization to produce novel packing materials for affinity chromatographic columns. The columns separated nucleosides and nucleotide dimers on the basis of hydrophobic interaction using an aqueous buffer and complementary hydrogen bonding interaction in methanol as an eluent. The PVAd- and PTM-silica gel columns gave a nucleobase-selective separation of oligonucleotides differing in length from mixtures of oligoadenylic and oligouridylic acids. On the PVAd-silica gel column terminal phosphate isomers of oligouridylic acid up to seven mer were resolved and the elution order of the isomers was different from that on an ODS column.     

High-performance affinity chromatography

High-performance affinity chromatography is a new technique for the fast and efficient purification of biologically active molecules. It combines the biospecificity of affinity chromatography with the high speed and resolution obtained in high-performance liquid chromatography. In particular, the immobilization of ligands to different silica derivatives and their suitability for high-performance affinity chromatography are discussed.     

Characterization of zirconized silica supports for HPLC

The preparation and characterization of zirconized silica has been investigated. The material was prepared via the reaction of silica with zirconium tetrabutoxide, optimized by a central composite design and response surface methodology. The new material was characterized by nitrogen adsorption-desorption investigations (BET/BJH) showing specific surface areas adequate for use as a chromatographic support. DRUVS, FTIR, XPS, XAS, XRF and SEM methods also were used to characterize the new material. It was shown that silica networks were not significantly modified with the introduction of zirconium. Surface analyses show that there is appreciable element enrichment at the surface, while significant changes in binding energies of Zr 3d, Si 2p, and O 1s have been detected. The above observations indicate that SiOZr bonds were formed, with zirconium grafted onto the silica surface, yielding a support suitable for HPLC.     

Bioaffinity chromatography on monolithic supports

Affinity chromatography on monolithic supports is a powerful analytical chemical platform because it allows for fast analyses, small sample volumes, strong enrichment of trace biomarkers and applications in microchips. In this review, the recent research using monolithic materials in the field of bioaffinity chromatography (including immunochromatography) is summarized and discussed. After giving an introduction into affinity chromatography, information on different biomolecules (antibodies, enzymes, lectins, aptamers) that can act as ligands in bioaffinity chromatography is presented. Subsequently, the history of monoliths, their advantages, preparation and formats (disks, capillaries and microchips) as well as ligand immobilization techniques are mentioned. Finally, analytical and preparative applications of bioaffinity chromatography on monoliths are presented. During the last four years 37 papers appeared. Protein A and G are still most often used as ligands for the enrichment of immunoglobulins. Antibodies and lectins remain popular for the analysis of mainly smaller molecules and saccharides, respectively. The highly porous cryogels modified with ligands are applied for the sorting of different cells or bacteria. New is the application of aptamers and phages as ligands on monoliths. Convective interaction media (epoxy CIM disks) are currently the most used format in monolithic bioaffinity chromatography.     

Foam chromatography: solid foams as supports in column chromatography

Foamed polymer is loaded with tributyl phosphate as stationary phase and compressed into a Chromatographic column which will give flow rates of 1-4 ml min , has a high break-through capacity and gives sharp and symmetrical peaks in elution chromatography. It has been applied to separation of nickel and palladium.     

Automated oligoribonucleotide synthesis on silica gel supports

The oligoribonucleotides (Ap)₇A, (CP)₇C, (Gp)₇G and (UP)₇U were prepared via an automated synthesizer using a silica gel support and the methyl dichlorophosphite procedure.     

Cyanogen bromide activation and coupling of ligands to diol-containing silica for high-performance affinity chromatography optimization of conditions

To obtain silica supports for high-performance affinity chromatography, a method of preparing CNBr-activated diol-silica under anhydrous conditions was developed. Activation of the silane-derived hydroxyls with cyanogen bromide and triethylamine was optimized and demonstrated to efficiently couple several amino ligands (tryptophan, 6-aminohexyl-Cibacron Blue, and DNA). Sonication and vacuum degassing, a procedure used to remove air from the silica beads, increased activation. Coupling of an amino ligand under slightly basic conditions (pH 8.0) gave the highest yield. The linkage between the immobilized ligands and silica was stable from pH 2-10. Anhydrous acetone was the most effective solvent for activation but dimethylformamide and 2-propanol were also good choices. The high-performance affinity chromatography columns obtained by coupling sequence-specific DNA binding sequences for Lac repressor-beta-galactosidase fusion protein were compared to affinity columns obtained by coupling the same DNA element to Sepharose beads; 5 microm silica gave the best performance.     

High-performance affinity chromatography of DNA

The octadecamer of thymidylic acid, (dT)18, was synthesized with a primary amino group on the 5'-terminal phosphate and this was covalently coupled to 300 A pore macroporous silica. Coupling was performed inside a prepacked column to an activated N-hydroxysuccinimidyl ester silica. The (dT)18-silica column successfully separates mixtures of adenine oligomers differing in length by one nucleotide. The dependence upon salt concentration, temperature and length for elution of oligonucleotides was determined. Methods were also developed to selectively elute such columns using either salt or temperature gradients.