Binding capacities of human serum albumin monomer and dimer by continuous frontal affinity chromatography

Human serum albumin monomer and dimer obtained by fractionation of a commercial preparation were immobilized on CH-Sepharose 4B by covalent coupling. For salicylic acid, warfarin, phenylbutazone, mefenamic acid, sulphamethizole and sulphonylureas, the binding capacities of the monomer and dimer were compared by continuous frontal affinity chromatography. The salicylate-binding capacities of both monomer and dimer were essentially retained upon immobilization. For these drugs, the dimer showed only about 10-30% less capacity per monomeric unit than that of the monomer, the reduction being associated for most drugs with the intrinsic binding constant rather than with the number of binding sites.