Hydrophilic polydopamine-coated graphene for metal ion immobilization as a novel immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography platform for phosphoproteome analysis

To discover trace phosphorylated proteins or peptides with great biological significance for in-depth phosphoproteome analysis, it is urgent to develop a novel technique for highly selective and effective enrichment of phosphopeptides. In this work, an IMAC (immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography) material with polydopamine coated on the surface of graphene and functionalized with titanium ions (denoted as Ti(4+)-G@PD) was initially designed and synthesized. The newly prepared Ti(4+)-G@PD with enhanced hydrophilicity and biological compatibility was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and infrared (IR), and its performance for selective and effective enrichment of phosphopeptide was evaluated with both standard peptide mixtures and human serum.