Saito Kyoichi

Membrane Affinity Chromatography Using Hollow Fibers Containing Hydrophobic Amino Acids as a Ligand

Membrane-based affinity chromatography was proposed by Brandt et al. in 1988 [1]. The technique is advantageous over conventional bead-based chromatography due to the following reasons. (1) The hollow fiber-charged module requires much lower operating pressure than does a bead-packed bed. (2) Since the desirable biomolecule can be directly transported by convection to the ligand immobilized on the inner surface of the microporous membrane, faster adsorption onto the affinity membrane can be attained. Brandt et al. demonstrated the efficient isolation of fibrinogen and IgG with gelatin- and Protein A-containing affinity membranes. However, the details concerning the preparation of affinity membranes and properties such as ligand density and pore structure are not described.