Molecular approach to protein-polymer interactions in ion-exchange chromatography

A model was developed and implemented to aid in understanding and predicting the retention behaviour of proteins in ion-exchange chromatography. The model structures chosen were calcium-loaded and -depleted alpha-lactalbumin (ALC) and hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) and a comparison was made with chromatographic measurements. A characteristic charge of -3.4 was found under the experimental conditions applied for both forms of ALC, and HEWL was not retained. The model explicitly considers all of the atoms, each being assigned a set of force field parameters. Because of the computational time necessary to include them, water molecules were not taken into account, but a sigmoidal function of the dielectric permittivity was introduced in the calculations. Interaction potential energies from bulk down to the contact were evaluated for each protein. The results were in qualitative agreement with those of the chromatographic experiments. It was possible to reproduce the difference in retention between both forms of ALC and also the behaviour of HEWL.