STUDY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF DUAL-FUNCTION AFFINITY CHROMATOGRAPHIC ADSORBENTS HAVING SIZE EXCLUSION AND ADSORPTION PROPERTIES TO ISOLATE, PURIFY AND RECOVER SMALL BIOMOLECULES FROM COMPLEX BIOLOGICAL MIXTURES

Abstract

In this work, the main emphasis of the research concerns the development of isolation and purification methods of biomolecules from biological fluids. Several separation techniques were incorporated in chromatographic gels to obtain multifunctional hybrid chromatographic separation media for proteins, peptides and amino acid isolation and purification.In the first part of the research, several chelating agents were synthesized and their effectiveness to purify immunoglobulins using Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC) was investigated. Ethylenediamine triacetic acid (TED) with immobilized copper resulted in the most effective in terms of purification and protein capacities.The next part of the work involved the development of hybrid chromatographic media that combines protein specific adsorption with sharp controlled size access permeation. This was accomplished by incorporating two types of ligand derivatives, one that permits the permeation of only certain molecular size range compounds, and a second one that specifically binds target biomolecules among the compounds of that specific molecular size range. Hybrid systems included binding ligands for Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC), Ion Exchange Chromatography (IEX) and Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography (HIC) combined with a controlled access polymer at different densities such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) and dextran derivatives. In general, low grafting density of high molecular weight PEG was found to be as effective as high grafting density of low molecular weight PEG in the rejecting properties of the semi-permeable synthesized media.Theoretical and experimental batch adsorption studies were also performed with the hybrid media and a mathematical model was developed to study the uptake of proteins under specific conditions of controlled permeation.In the last stage of this work, chelating surfactants were synthesized and used as reversible affinity ligands on reversed phase adsorbents for protein separations.One of the main accomplishments of this research was the development of separation media for small molecular size compounds from larger molecules and from complex biological systems. Applications of special interest will include the isolation and purification of solutes, such as metal ions, toxins, drugs, biomolecules, including proteins, biotoxins, nucleic acids, peptides, hormones, and biomarkers from biological fluids (such as human serum, urine, etc.) and from aqueous solutions.