Selective isolation
and enrichment of phosphoproteins play critical
roles for identification of biomarkers in biological applications.
Herein, a kind of polyoxometalate (P5W30)/polydopamine
(PDA) composite microspheres is readily synthesized via an in situ
polymerization way, followed by immobilization of Ti4+ on
the surface of the microspheres to obtain P5W30/PDA-Ti4+. Due to metal affinity and π stacking
interaction, this novel material exhibits high selectivity to β-casein
(β-ca), and the theoretical maximum adsorption capacity is as
high as 1250 mg g–1, fitting well with the Langmuir
model. The captured β-ca can be collected by using Britton–Robinson
(B–R) buffer at pH 7.0, and a recovery of 81.5% is acquired.
The enrichment factor is over 150 at a mass ratio of BSA/β-ca
= 100:1, indicating that phosphoproteins can be purified by P5W30/PDA-Ti4+. Moreover, the application
of P5W30/PDA-Ti4+ as sorbent in real
biological samples has been investigated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide
gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis, and the consequences show
that this kind of material is able to selectively isolate phosphoproteins
from complex samples such as drinking milk and chicken egg white.