Characterisation of metal–chelate methacrylate monoliths

Monoliths are attractive stationary phases for purification of large biomolecules like proteins because of their flow-unaffected properties. Isolation of histidine containing proteins to high purity can be efficiently performed using metal–chelate interactions within a single chromatographic step. In this work, we investigated properties of commercial metal–chelate methacrylate monoliths—Convective Interaction Media (CIM). Analytical CIM disk monolithic columns and CIM 8 ml monolithic columns were used for purification of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) analog LK-801 and green fluorescence protein with 6 histidine tag (GFP-6His). In both cases, purity over 90% was achieved. Dynamic binding capacity at 10% of breakthrough was around 17–18 mg/ml for LK-801 and around 30 mg/ml for GFP-6His. Adsorption isotherm revealed that the maximal capacity is achieved at protein concentration above 60 μg/ml. Dynamic binding capacity and resolution were found to be flow unaffected.