Development of an epoxy-based monolith used for the affinity capturing of Eschericha coli bacteria

An epoxy-based monolith has been developed for use as hydrophilic support in bioseparation. This monolith is produced by self-polymerization of polyglycerol-3-glycidyl ether in organic solvents as porogens at room temperature within 1 h. One receives a highly cross-linked structure that provides useful mechanical properties. The porosity and pore diameter can be controlled by varying the composition of the porogen. In this work, an epoxy-based monolith with a high porosity (79%) and large pore size (22 μm) is prepared and used in affinity capturing of bacterial cells. These features allow the passage of bacterial cells through the column. As affinity ligand polymyxin B is used, which allows the binding of gram-negative bacteria. The efficiency of the monolithic affinity column is studied with Escherichia coli spiked in water. Bacterial cells are concentrated on the column at pH 4 and eluted with a recovery of 97 ± 3% in 200 μL by changing the pH value without impairing viability of bacteria. The dynamic capacity for the monolithic column is nearly independent of the flow rate (4 × 10⁹ cells/column). Thereby, it is possible to separate and enrich gram-negative bacterial cells, such as E. coli, with high flow rates (10 mL/min) and low back pressure (<1 bar) in a volume as low as 200 μL compatible for real-time polymerase chain reaction, microarray formats, and biosensors.