Zirconia layer coated mesoporous silica microspheres used for highly specific phosphopeptide enrichment

Zirconia layer coated mesoporous silica microspheres with mesostructured cellular foams (MCFs) were prepared by NH₃/water vapor-induced internal hydrolysis method. Zirconia layer coated MCF microspheres were characterized by SEM, XRD, N₂ sorption, UV, and chromatographic analysis, and explored for enrichment of phosphopeptides. ZrO₂/MCF microspheres in solid-phase extraction (SPE) mode demonstrated much higher selectivity and higher efficiency towards phosphopeptide enrichment than bulk ZrO₂ particles. In particular, the selectivities of ZrO₂/MCF microspheres towards multi-phosphopeptides are even higher than that of the widely used commercial TiO₂ microparticles. The ZrO₂/MCF microspheres were also applied to enrich endogenous phosphopeptides from human serum, and twelve endogenous phosphorylated peptides could be specifically enriched.