Two variables dominating the retention of intact proteins under gradient elution with simultaneous ultrafast high-resolution separation by hydrophobic interaction chromatography

Abstract

The retention of intact proteins under gradient elution in hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) was found to be governed by two variables, the steady region (SR) and the migration region (MR). In the SR, the proteins are immobilized by the strong interactions with the stationary phase such that the retention time is independent of the column length. In the MR, the proteins also interact with the stationary phase, but they move normally, thus the retention time depends on their partition coefficients and the column length. The SR can be used as an operation space (OP) for high-throughput protein analysis by 1D-LC using short columns at high flow rates to maintain a high resolution. The OP can also be employed for all assisted operations in online 2D-LC. Based on the steady region/migration region optimization strategy developed in this study, five successive complete separations of seven intact proteins were performed in a HIC cake in less than 5 min, and a crude extract of ribonuclease A from bovine pancreas was purified using online 2D-LC to 95.8% purity with 93.2% mass recovery in 45 min. This approach can be used to expedite the purification of drug-target proteins and should therefore be of interest to the pharmaceutical industry.