High-performance displacement chromatography of melanotropins and their derivatives

Mixtures containing derivatives of the biological active peptide alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) or beta-melanocyte stimulating hormone (beta-MSH) were purified by using reversed-phase chromatography in the displacement mode. On a 250 x 4.6 mm octadecyl silica column and with instrumentation used in analytical high-performance liquid chromatography about 30 mg of the peptide mixture were separated by using an aqueous solution of benzyldimethyldodecylamonium bromide as the displacer in a single chromatographic run. The results demonstrate the advantages of displacement over elution in preparative chromatography of peptides on the scale of tens of milligrams that is typical for physiological tissue extracts and in solid-phase peptide synthesis.