Functionalization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and their application for selective isolation of acidic proteins

A micro-column packed with PDDA-wrapped MWNTs in sequential injection system facilitates selective sorption of acidic protein species. Proteins adsorbed onto the PDDA-MWNT composites are afterwards collected by elution with a citrate buffer as stripping reagent. With a sample loading volume of 2.0 mL and an eluent volume of 200 microL, a retention efficiency of 100% and a recovery of 90% are achieved for BSA in the range 6-120 microg, resulting in an enrichment factor of 14. A sampling frequency of 15 h(-1) is achieved, along with a precision of 4.5% at 25 microg x mL(-1) BSA. The practical applicability of this system is demonstrated by processing human whole blood for successive isolation of acidic proteins.