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2008

M. Barut, A. Podgornik, L. Urbas, B. Gabor, P. Brne, J. Vidič, S. Plevčak, A. Štrancar

J. Sep. Sci. 2008, 31, 1867 – 1880

This review describes the novel chromatography stationary phase – a porous monolithic methacrylate-based polymer – in terms of the design of the columns and some of the features that make these columns attractive for the purification of large biomolecules. We first start with a brief summary of the characteristics of these large molecules (more precisely large proteins like immunoglobulins G and M, plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and viral particles), and a list of some of the problems that were encountered during the development of efficient purification processes. We then briefly describe the structure of the methacrylate-based monolith and emphasize the features which make them more than suitable for dealing with large entities. The highly efficient structure on a small scale can be transferred to a large scale without the need of making column modifications, and the various approaches of how this is accomplished are briefly presented in this paper. This is followed by presenting some of the examples from the bioprocess development schemes, where the implementation of the methacrylate-based monolithic columns has resulted in a very efficient and productive process. Following this, we move back to the analytical scale and demonstrate the efficiency of the monolithic column – where the mass transfer between the stationary and mobile phase is greatly enhanced – for the in-process and final control of the new therapeutics. The combination of an efficient structure and the appropriate hardware results in separations of proteins with residence time less than 0.1 s.

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M. Ćurković Perica, I. Šola, L. Urbas, F. Smrekar, M. Krajačić

Journal of Chromatography A 1216 (2009) 2712-2716

A procedure based on Sartorius BIA Separations CIM DEAE anion-exchange chromatography was developed to separate double-stranded (ds) RNA of hypovirus infecting phytopathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica. Using a linear gradient of 25 mM 4-morpholinepropanesulfonic acid (MOPS), pH 7.0 as a binding buffer, and 25 mM MOPS, 1.5 M NaCl, 0.1 mM EDTA, 15% isopropanol (v/v), pH 7.0 as an elution buffer, hypoviral dsRNA was additionally purified from nucleic acid species present in preparations partially purified by standard CF-11 cellulose chromatography. Moreover, crude phenol/chloroform extracts of the fungal tissue were also applied to monolithic supports and CIM DEAE chromatograms revealed clear evidence for hypoviral presence without CF-11 chromatography, nucleic acid precipitation, and electrophoresis.

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J. Ivancic-Jelecki, M. Brgles, M. Šantak, D. Forčić

Journal of Chromatography A 1216 (2009) 2717-2724

Human plasma is an important medical substance and a raw material for production of various therapeutics. During blood sampling, storage and processing, genomic DNA is released into plasma from nucleated blood cells that are damaged in the course of the procedure. In order to determine the concentration of contaminating DNA in plasma, we developed a method for DNA isolation by using anion-exchange chromatography on a Sartorius BIA Separations CIM (convective interaction media) diethylaminoethyl column. DNA was quantified by SYBR Green based real-time polymerase chain reaction. The concentration of cell-free, non-apoptotic DNA in plasma ranged between 0.06 and 22.5 ng/ml. As substantial volumes of plasma or whole blood are administered directly into the vascular system, a recipient is exposed to high amounts of cell-free DNA, several orders of magnitude higher than the amount found in other biologicals.

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F. Smrekar, M. Ciringer, M. Peterka, A. Podgornik, A. Štrancar

Journal of Chromatography B, (2007)

Phages are gaining importance due to their wide usage. In this work strong anion exchange monolithic chromatographic column was used for single step phage purification. Most of the proteins and DNA were removed and recovery of approximately 70% of infective virus was reproducibly achieved. 30 ml of phage sample was purified in around 10 min.

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I. V. Kalashnikova, N. D. Ivanova, T. B. Tennikova

Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry, 2008, Vol. 81, No. 5, pp. 867-873

A simple virus-cell complementary model system can be obtained using polymer-analogous reactions of the epoxy groups of glycidyl methacrylate-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate monolithic macroporous polymeric support and of the carboxy groups of styrene-methyl methacrylate polymeric nanospheres. The effect of thus designed microenvironment on the affinity binding parameters of virus-mimicking nanoparticles with the functionalized sorbent surface is studied by high-performance monolithic disk affinity chromatography.

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S. Likić, G. Rusak, M. Krajačić

Journal of Chromatography A, 1189 (2008) 451–455

High-performance liquid chromatography was developed for further separation of double-stranded (ds) RNAs obtained by CF-11 cellulose chromatography from plants infected with satellite associated cucumber mosaic virus. Fractions separated by monolithic polymer column, especially applicable for nucleic acid analyses, were identified electrophoretically and confirmed with a polymerase chain reaction test. Once standardized, the method has revealed clear evidence of satellite presence without precipitation and electrophoresis. According to demonstrated sensitivity, its application in the preliminary diagnostics of field samples is also predictable. Principally, it can be used as a powerful preparative approach resulting in highly pure satellite dsRNA for further analyses.

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C. Delattre, P. Michaud, M. A. Vijayalakshmi

Journal of Chromatography B, 861 (2008) 203–208

Fast production and purification of α-(1,4)-oligogalacturonides was investigated using a new enzymatic reactor composed of a monolithic matrix. Pectin lyase from Aspergillus japonicus (Sigma) was immobilized on CIM-disk epoxy monolith. Studies were performed on free pectin lyase and immobilized pectin lyase to compare the optimum temperature, optimum pH, and thermal stability. It was determined that optimum temperature for free pectin lyase and immobilized pectin lyase on monolithic support is 30 °C, and optimum pH is 5. Monolithic CIM-disk chromatography is one of the fastest liquid chromatographic method used for separation and purification of biomolecules due to high mass transfer rate. In this context, online one step production and purification of oligogalacturonides was investigated associating CIM-disk pectin lyase and CIM-disk DEAE. This efficient enzymatic bioreactor production of uronic oligosaccharides from polygalacturonic acid (PGA) constitutes an original fast process to generate bioactive oligouronides.

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2007

R. Hahn, A. Tscheliessnig, P. Bauerhansl, A. Jungbauer

J. Biochem. Biophys. Methods 70 (2007) 87–94

Monolithic media have found widespread use as excellent tools for fast analytical separations of small molecules, proteins, pDNA and viruses. Polymethacrylate monoliths with large channels are attractive for capturing large molecules, like immunoglobulins, DNA, and viruses. For preparative purposes, these monoliths are operated in radial flow mode. Band spreading in monoliths is extremely low and mostly dominated by the contribution of extra column effects. The model used here had a single axial dispersion coefficient which lumps together extra column effects and the intrinsic band spreading of the monolithic material to characterize the adsorption of proteins and pDNA on polymethacrylate ion-exchange monoliths. Due to the fact that the performance of the monolith was unaffected by the velocity within the applied range, and due to highly favourable adsorption isotherms, a constant pattern model could be applied to predict preparative runs on radial flow units assuming axial flow for modelling.

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R. Skudas, B. A. Grimes, E. Machtejevas, V. Kudirkaite, O. Kornysova, T. P. Hennessy, D. Lubda, K. K. Unger

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 72-84(2007) 72 - 84

In this work, monolithic silica columns with the C4, C8, and C18 chemistry and having various macropore diameters and two different mesopore diameters are studied to access the differences in the column efficiency under isocratic elution conditions and the resolution of selected peptide pairs under reversed-phase gradient elution conditions for the separation of peptides and proteins. The columns with the pore structural characteristics that provided the most efficient separations are then employed to optimize the conditions of a gradient separation of a model mixture of peptides and proteins based on surface chemistry, gradient time, volumetric flow rate, and acetonitrile concentration. Both the mesopore and macropore diameters of the monolithic column are decisive for the column efficiency. As the diameter of the through-pores decreases, the column efficiency increases. The large set of mesopores studied with a nominal diameter of ∼25 nm provided the most efficient column performance. The efficiency of the monolithic silica columns increase with decreasing n-alkyl chain length in the sequence of C18 < C8 < C4. The resolution of proteins and peptides by reversed-phase gradient liquid chromatography on n-octadecyl, n-octyl, and n-butyl bonded monolithic silica columns is optimized. The results obtained imply the use of acetonitrile concentration gradient up to 75% for n-octadecyl and n-octyl bonded monolithic silica columns, and the use of acetonitrile concentration gradient up to 85% for n-butyl bonded monolithic silica columns. With the respect to the gradient times and flow rates, the optimum conditions are the best with n-octyl and n-butyl bonded monolithic silica columns, where the range of optimum gradient times is up to ∼30 min and mobile phase flow rates in the range of 0.5–1 ml/min. Consequently, the best performance towards peak resolution is obtained with n-octyl bonded monolithic silica column with the respect to low concentration of organic phase gradient, fast separations and low solvent consumptions due to low flow rates.

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J. Vidič, A. Podgornik, J. Jančar, V. Frankovič, B. Košir, N. Lendero, K. Čuček, M. Krajnc, A. Štrancar

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 63–71(2007) 63 – 71

Chemical and chromatographic stability of methacrylate-based monolithic columns bearing 3-N,N-diethylamino-2-hydroxypropyl (DEAE) and quarternary amine (QA) groups was studied. The leakage products from both monolithic columns were determined and the leakage of amines has been quantified in alkali solutions. Monolithic columns bearing QA functional groups being exposed to 1 M sodium hydroxide solution for up to 3 months caused reduction of ion-exchange groups for approximately 12%, while for DEAE monolithic columns was only around 3% in 1 year. In 0.1 M NaOH and 20% ethanol degradation was significantly lower. The main leaking compound from DEAE monolith was found to be 3-(diethylamino)-1,2-propanediol and 2,3-dihydroxypropyltrimethylammonium salt for QA monolith. During repeated 50 cleaning-in-place (CIP) cycles, no changes in chromatographic properties were detected.

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B. A. Grimes, R. Skudas, K. K. Unger, D. Lubda

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 14-29(2007) 14-29

In this work, a parallel pore model (PPM) and a pore network model (PNM) are developed to provide a state-of-art method for the calculation of several characteristic pore structural parameters from inverse size-exclusion chromatography (ISEC) experiments. The proposed PPM and PNM could be applicable to both monoliths and columns packed with porous particles. The PPM and PNM proposed in this work are able to predict the existence of the second inflection point in the experimental exclusion curve that has been observed for monolithic materials by accounting for volume partitioning of the polymer standards in the macropores of the column. The appearance and prominence of the second inflection point in the exclusion curve is determined to depend strongly on the void fraction of the macropores (flow-through pores), (b) the nominal diameter of the macropores, and (c) the radius of gyration of the largest polymer standard employed in the determination of the experimental ISEC exclusion curve. The conditions that dictate the appearance and prominence of the second inflection point in the exclusion curve are presented. The proposed models are applied to experimentally measured ISEC exclusion curves of six silica monoliths having different macropore and mesopore diameters. The PPM and PNM proposed in this work are able to determine the void fractions of the macropores and silica skeleton, the pore connectivity of the mesopores, as well as the pore number distribution (PND) and pore volume distribution (PVD) of the mesopores. The results indicate that the mesoporous structure of all materials studied is well connected as evidenced by the similarities between the PVDs calculated with the PPM and the PNM, and by the high pore connectivity values obtained from the PNM. Due to the fact that the proposed models can predict the existence of the second inflection point in the exclusion curves, the proposed models could be more applicable than other models for ISEC characterization of chromatographic columns with small diameter macropores (interstitial pores) and/or large macropore (interstitial pore) void fractions. It should be noted that the PNM can always be applied without the use of the PPM, since the PPM is an idealization that considers an infinitely connected porous medium and for materials having a low (<6) pore connectivity the PPM would force the PVD to a lower average diameter and larger distribution width as opposed to properly accounting for the network effects present in the real porous medium.

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I. Junkar, T. Koloini, P. Krajnc, D. Nemec, A. Podgornik, A. Štrancar

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 48-54(2007) 48-54

Today, monoliths are well-accepted chromatographic stationary phases due to several advantageous properties in comparison with conventional chromatographic supports. A number of different types of monoliths have already been described, among them recently a poly(high internal phase emulsion) (PolyHIPE) type of chromatographic monoliths. Due to their particular structure, we investigated the possibility of implementing different mathematical models to predict pressure drop on PolyHIPE monoliths. It was found that the experimental results of pressure drop on PolyHIPE monoliths can best be described by employing the representative unit cell (RUC) model, which was originally derived for the prediction of pressure drop on catalytic foams. Models intended for the description of particulate beds and silica monoliths were not as accurate. The results of this study indicate that the PolyHIPE structure under given experimental condition is, from a hydrodynamic point of view, to some extent similar to foam structures, though any extrapolation of these results may not provide useful predictions of pressure versus flow relations and further experiments are required.

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K. Isobe, Y. Kawakami

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 85-89(2007) 85-89

A convection interaction media (trade name CIM, Sartorius BIA Separation, Ljubljana, Slovenia) isobutyl monolithic disc was prepared by incubating a CIM epoxy monolithic disc with isobutylamine, and it was then applied to the purification of secondary alcohol dehydrogenase (S-ADH) and primary alcohol oxidase (P-AOD). Both enzymes were adsorbed on this column and eluted with high purity. Thus, S-ADH was purified to an electrophoretically homogeneous state by four column chromatographies using CIM DEAE-8 and CIM C4-8 tube monolithic columns, blue-Sepharose column and CIM isobutyl disc monolithic column. P-AOD was also purified to an electrophoretically homogeneous state by three column chromatographies of CIM DEAE-8 tube, CIM C4-8 tube and CIM isobutyl disc columns.

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S. Laschober, M. Sulyok, E. Rosenberg

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 55-62(2007) 55-62

The present work aims at the optimisation of the synthesis of methyl-silsesquioxane monolithic capillary columns using a sol–gel based protocol. The influence of reaction conditions such as temperature, reaction mixture composition and catalyst concentration has been examined. The morphology of the products was studied by scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption. Monolithic capillary columns were obtained with a skeleton-like structure with open pores. Pore diameters vary from 0.8 to 15 μm, diameters of the xerogel network vary from 0.4 to 12 μm, respectively. Specific surface areas up to 334 m2/g have been observed, however, many materials did not possess areas above few m2/g which represents the limit of detection of the nitrogen porosimetry measurements. Excellent adhesion to the capillary wall was observed in all cases, and drying was possible at ambient conditions without the formation of cracks.

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E. Müller, C. Mann

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 30-39(2007) 30-39

The electro-acoustic effects, namely the ion vibration potential (IVP) and the colloidal vibration current (CVI), colloidal vibration potential (CVP) first described by P. Debye [P. Debye, J. Chem. Phys. 1 (1933) 13], are a result of charge separation of bound or free ions at different degrees by ultrasonic waves. Today commercial instruments are available to investigate liquid homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. In the present paper the application of this technique for the characterization of salts, protein solutions and resins for biochromatography is shown and valuable information about resins can be derived in a short time. Various resins were investigated with the following results: (1) the CVI magnitude is dependent of several parameters (such as particle size distribution, volume fraction, density difference); (2) the CVI is influenced by the surface modification of the resins. Polymeric modifications decrease the value of CVI. The CVI is generally lower for high capacity resins; (3) the measurement of the electro-acoustic effects can be used to detect small changes in resins. The CVI is dependent of the amount of adsorbed protein in “native” and denatured state.

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I. V. Kalashnikova, N. D. Ivanova, T. G. Evseeva, A. Yu. Menshikova, E. G. Vlakh, T. B. Tennikova

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 40–47(2007) 40–47

The subject of this paper is an investigation of the peculiarities of dynamic adsorption behavior of nanoparticles. For this purpose, virus-mimicking synthetic particles bearing different proteins at their outer surface were specially constructed using two approaches, e.g. the cross-linking of proteins and modification of polystyrene microsphere surface by proteins. Two chromatographic modes, namely ion-exchange and affinity liquid chromatography on ultra-short monolithic columns [Convective Interaction Media (CIM) DEAE and CIM QA disks] have been used as a tool for dynamic adsorption experiments. Such parameters as maximum adsorption capacity and its dependence on applied flow rate were established and compared with those obtained for individual proteins. Similarly to individual proteins, it was shown that the maximum of adsorption capacity was not changed at different flow rates. In addition, the permeability of porous space of used monolithic sorbents appeared to be sufficient for efficient separation of large particles and quite similar to the well-studied process applied for individual proteins.

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I.Vovk, B. Simonovska

Journal of Chromatography B, 849 (2007) 337-343

The most abundant isoforms of tomato pectin methylesterase (PME; EC 3.1.1.11; Mr 26 kDa), polygalacturonase (PG; EC 3.2.1.15; PG1 with Mr 82 kDa) and a basic protein with Mr 42 kDa and unknown function were isolated from fresh tomato fruit by a fast chromatographic procedure on a Convective Interaction Media (CIM®) short monolithic disk column bearing carboxymethyl (CM) groups. The extraction of the targeted enzymes with 1.2 M NaCl solution was followed by precipitation with ammonium sulfate at 60% of saturation, solubilisation of the pellet in 0.5 M NaCl and fractionation using a linear gradient from 0 to 700 mM NaCl. Among six fractions five had PME activity and four had PG activity, while one fraction containing a pure protein with Mr 42 kDa with neither of these activities. Two concentrated fractions, one with PG and one with PME were further purified. A linear gradient from 0 to 500 mM NaCl with 20% CH3CN in the mobile phase was used for the PG fraction and two CM disks and a linear gradient from 0 to 200 mM NaCl were used for the PME fraction as a greater capacity was necessary in this case. From 4 kg of fresh tomato flesh we obtained 22 mg of purified PME, 1.8 mg of purified, active PG1, 13.5 mg of additional basic protein and a fraction with PG2 contaminated by a PME isoform. Carboxymethyl CIM disk short monolithic columns are convenient for semi-preparative and analytical work with tomato fruit pectolytic enzymes.

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N. Delmotte, U. Kobold, T. Meier, A. Gallusser, A. Strancar, C. G. Huber

Anal Bioanal Chem (2007) 389:1065–1074

Immunoadsorbers based on 2.0 × 6.0 mm i.d., epoxy-bearing, methacrylate-based monolithic disks were developed in order to target myoglobin and N-terminal pro-natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), two biomarkers involved in cardiovascular disease. In both cases, antibodies were successfully coupled to the polymeric disk material. The developed immunoadsorbers permitted the selective isolation of myoglobin and NT-proBNP from human serum. Myoglobin was successfully isolated and detected from serum samples at concentrations down to 250 fmol μL-1. However, the affinity of the antibodies was not sufficient for the analysis of low-concentration clinical samples. Frontal analysis of anti-NT-proBNP disks revealed the ability of the immunoadsorber to bind up to 250 pmol NT-proBNP, which is more than sufficient for the analysis of clinical samples. Anti-NT-proBNP disks showed good stability over more than 18 months and excellent batch-to-batch reproducibility. Moreover, anti-NT-proBNP disks permitted the isolation of NT-proBNP at concentrations down to 750 amol μL−1 in serum, corresponding to concentrations of strongly diseased patients. Using reversed-phase trapping columns, the detection of NT-proBNP eluted from immunoadsorbers by mass spectrometry was achieved for concentrations down to 7.8 fmol μL-1.

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I. Vovk, B. Simonovska

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 90-96(2007) 90-96

An improved cation-exchange chromatographic procedure on Convective Interaction Media (CIM, Sartorius BIA Separations, Ljubljana, Slovenia) short monolithic methacrylate disk columns was used for the isolation of salt-independent pectin methylesterase (PME; EC 3.1.1.11) isoform and endo-polygalacturonase PG1 (PG, EC 3.2.1.15) from ripe tomato fruit extract after studying the chromatographic conditions including type of disk, binding buffer, pH, eluent composition and different gradients. Between 10 and 20 μg of proteins gave reliable chromatograms. Both carboxymethyl (CM) and sulfonyl (SO3) disks were equally suitable for the fractionation of tomato extract using the new gradient, but only CM disk was appropriate for further purification of the PME and PG fractions, and provided fast and sharp separation of proteins. The isolation of pure PG1 could be achieved only by addition of 20% of acetonitrile to the mobile phase. About 200 μg of proteins were loaded at one chromatographic run at the fractionation and purification. Determination of the molecular weights of the separated proteins showed that dimer of salt-independent PME isoform was formed in concentrated solutions of the enzyme but dissociated upon dilution of the solution. From 6 kg of fresh tomato flesh, 28 mg of purified salt-independent PME, 12.5 mg of purified and active PG1 and 4 mg of PG2 fraction contaminated with salt-dependent PME isoform were obtained by means of semi-preparative chromatography on CIM disks.

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D. Josić, J. G. Clifton

Journal of Chromatography A, 1144 (2007) 2-13

An overview on the utilization of monoliths in proteomics technology will be given. Both silica- and polymer-based monoliths have broad use for microseparation of tryptic peptides in reversed-phase (RP) mode before identification by mass spectrometry (MS) or by MS/MS. For two-dimensional (2D) LC separation of peptides before MS or MS/MS analysis, a combination of ion-exchange, usually cation-exchange (CEX) chromatography with RP chromatography on monolithic supports can be employed. Immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography monoliths with immobilized Fe3+-ions are used for the isolation of phosphopeptides. Monoliths with immobilized affinity ligands are usually applied to the rapid separation of proteins and peptides. Miniaturized reactors with immobilized proteolytic enzymes are utilized for rapid on- or offline digestion of isolated proteins or protein mixtures prior to identification by LC–MS/MS. Monoliths also have broad potential for application in sample preparation, prior to further proteomic analyses. Monolithic supports with large pore sizes can be exploited for the isolation of nanoparticles, such as cells, organelles, viruses and protein aggregates. The potential for further adoption of monolithic supports in protein separation and enrichment of low abundance proteins prior to proteolytic digestion and final LC–MS/MS protein identification will be discussed.

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