Novel Polymer-Coated ION-Exchange Chromatography Support

This project describes the use radio frequency (RF) plasma induced polymerization for the preparation of new ion exchange support media for High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) separation of biopolymers. Silica and alumina supports will be uniformly coated with thin layers of polymerizable monomers containing ionizable groups of interest. The dispersed monomer coatings will then be polymerized on the surfaces throughout the pore structure of the supports to form thin, pin hole free chromatographic supports with a high surface density of ionizable groups. Monomers have been selected to allow preparation of both weak and strong cationic and anionic ion-exchange materials. Chromatographic evaluations will be performed using proteins and other biomolecules to characterize the performance of the ion exchange media. The successful completion of Phase I will lead to the evolution of families of highly selective polymer coated separations media of commercial interest for separations, purification and evaluation of complex biological mixtures. The process, although limited here to the preparation of plasma polymer coated silica and alumina HPLC support media, can be generalized to incorporate many different functional monomers and can be applied to other support materials including inorganic and polymeric particulate materials or membranes.