The potential value of eight commercial available polymer-based reversed-phase (RP) columns for peptide and protein separations was evaluated using crude acetic acid extracts of normal and diabetic human pancreata and mixtures of pure polypeptides as samples. All columns were characterized with acetic acid gradients in water as mobile phase, and different chromatographic profiles were obtained depending on the type of polymer column (bare or derivatized) and the type of ligand. Some of the columns were virtually free from effects related to the polymer skeleton whereas in others the separation was influenced by both the ligand and the polymeric backbone. Two selected polymeric RP columns were, together with a silica-based C4 column, further characterized with acetonitrile gradients in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), and the separation temperature was found to have a drastic effect on the separation efficiency for proteins with mol. wt. greater than 6000 dalton. No such effect was seen for polypeptides with mol. wt. less than 6000 dalton. Mixtures of pure peptides and proteins were separated using acetic acid gradients in water, acetonitrile or isopropanol, and normally the highest efficiency was found with the use of acetonitrile as mobile phase modifier. Isopropanol was less suitable as an organic modifier. The separation of the beta-lactoglobulin A- and B-chains may be used to give a rapid estimate of the chromatographic usability of polymer-based RP-columns for peptide and protein separations in acetic acid gradients in water and in acetonitrile gradients. Recoveries for insulin, proinsulin, growth hormone, ovalbumin and human serum albumin were measured for several polymer-based RP columns eluted with acetic acid gradients in water and with acetonitrile-based mobile phases. The highest recoveries of serum albumin and ovalbumin were found after elution with acetic acid gradients in water.
