pH‐Regulated Heterostructure Porous Particles Enable Similarly Sized Protein Separation

Abstract

Porous particles are frequently used for various healthcare applications that involve protein separation processes. However, conventional porous particles, either homogeneous particles or those subjected to surface modification with a layer of specific molecules, often encounter bottlenecks in separating proteins with similar size. Here, it is reported that heterostructure‐enabled separation particles (HESP), synthesized by a double emulsion interfacial polymerization process, can effectively and rapidly separate similarly sized proteins. Double emulsion interfacial polymerization endows the HESP with a nanoscale carboxylic layer outside the particles and inside the pores, allowing pH‐regulated selective adsorption of proteins. Thus, by optimizing the environmental pH, proteins with similar size can be effectively and rapidly separated. These HESP are expected to show potential in widespread applications ranging from biomolecule adsorption, encapsulation, and separation to controlled release and other biomedical fields.

Unusual Nanofractal Microparticles for Rapid Protein Capture and Release

“…Recently, we have developed an emulsion interfacial polymerization strategy to synthesize a series of microparticles with controllable shapes from Janus to porous, which have shown great potentials in oil–water separation and biomolecule separation. [ 24–30 ] The surface chemistry and internal pore structure of the microparticles can be well tuned by changing the monomer type, monomer ratio, and surfactant type. However, it remains a great challenge to control surface nanostructure of the microparticles.…”

“…These two proteins are difficult to be separated by conventional methods and materials. [ 32–34 ] Our previous study demonstrated that the optimized solvent pH for ion exchange separation of BHb and BSA is pI BSA (4.7) < pH < pI BHb (7.0), [ 28 ] where pI represents the isoelectric point of the protein. In terms of the nanofractal microparticles with different surface roughness (Fractal‐1, Fractal‐2, Fractal‐3, and Fractal‐4), the capture amount for BHb increases from 25.9 ± 0.6 to 35.9 ± 0.6, 85.8 ± 8.3, and 91.1 ± 1.9 mg g −1 (mean ± s.d., n = 3) at pH = 6.3 and t = 3 min.…”

Interfacial Polymerization: From Chemistry to Functional Materials

“…[22] Thea dvantages of interfacial polyaddition and the development of polymerization methods will enable more and more functional polymers and polymerization methods,s uch as atomtransfer radical polymerization (ATRP), [90] to be introduced into interfacial polymerization for the generation of amphiphilic block copolymers.F unctional materials such as Janus particles,h eterostructured particles,a nd Janus films have been fabricated by interfacial polyaddition and utilized for separation and sensing. [8,22,91] Monomers suitable for polyaddition are numerous and programmable,a nd their combination with interfacial polyaddition will enable more and more polymer materials to be created and various functions to be further developed.…”

Grenzflächenpolymerisation: Von der Chemie zu funktionellen Materialien

“…Mittels Grenzflächenpolyadditionk çnnen funktionelle Materialien wie Janus-Partikel, heterostruktu-rierte Partikel und Janus-Filme hergestellt und zur Stofftrennung und Sensorik verwendet werden. [8,22,91] Die Monomere in der Polyaddition sind zahlreich und programmierbar,d aher werden in Kombination mit der Grenzflächenpolyaddition immer mehr Polymermaterialien erzeugt und verschiedene Funktionen weiter entwickelt.…”