PolyAdenine cryogels for fast and effective RNA purification

Cryogels are used effectively for many diverse applications in a variety of fields. The isolation or purification of RNA, one of the potential utilizations for cryogels, is crucial due to their vital roles such as encoding, decoding, transcription and translation, and gene expression. RNA principally exists within every living thing, but their tendency to denaturation easily is still the most challenging issue. Herein, we aimed to develop adenine incorporated polymeric cryogels as an alternative sorbent for cost-friendly and fast RNA purification with high capacity. For this goal, we synthesized the polymerizable derivative of adenine called as adenine methacrylate (AdeM) through the substitution reaction between adenine and methacryloyl chloride. Then, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA)-based cryogels were prepared in a partially frozen aqueous medium by copolymerization of monomers, AdeM, and HEMA. The cryogels were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface area measurements, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and swelling tests. RNA adsorption experiments were performed via batch system while varying different conditions including pH, initial RNA concentration, temperature, and interaction time. We achieved high RNA adsorption capacity of cryogels, with the swelling ratio around 510%, as 11.86mg/g. The cryogels might be reused at least five times without significant decrease in adsorption capacity.