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Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Ion Exchange Chromatography (IEX) Coupled to Multi-angle Light Scattering (MALS) for Protein Separation and Characterization
Published on: April 5, 2019
Separation of biomolecules by micro-high-performance anion-exchange chromatography using a tentacle-like stationary
Nicola Dawn Marlin1, Norman William Smith
1Centre for Analytical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2AY, UK. Nicola.Marlin@imperial.ac.uk
Abstract:
A variety of biomolecules and their variants, which have previously been problematic to separate, have been analysed using a novel anion-exchange resin based on a non-porous polystyrene polymeric support with a hydrophilic coating and grafted tentacular quaternary ammonium functional groups. The hydrophilic coating results in minimal interaction between the support and the biomolecule, while the highly flexible tentacular-like anion-exchange groups increase the ionic interaction potential and act as an umbrella to hold the proteins away from the surface. Because of the removal of silanophilic interactions, minimisation of hydrophobic interactions, and the highly flexible nature of the tentacle-like ion exchangers, ionic interactions can therefore dominate the separation. As such this phase is highly suited to the separation of highly charged biomolecules and their variants. This polymeric strong anion-exchange (SAX) support was packed into a fused-silica capillary column and, using a salt concentration gradient, various recombinant proteins were analysed by micro-HPLC resulting in baseline resolution.
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