Layer-by-Layer Deposition with Polymers Containing Nitrilotriacetate, A Convenient Route to Fabricate Metal- and Protein-Binding Films.

This paper describes a convenient synthesis of nitrilotriacetate (NTA)-containing polymers and subsequent layer-by-layer adsorption of these polymers on flat surfaces and in membrane pores. The resulting films form NTA-metal-ion complexes and capture 2-3 mmol of metal ions per mL of film. Moreover, these coatings bind multilayers of polyhistidine-tagged proteins through association with NTA-metal-ion complexes. Inclusion of acrylic acid repeat units in NTA-containing copolymers promotes swelling to increase protein binding in films on Au-coated wafers. Adsorption of NTA-containing films in porous nylon membranes gives materials that capture ∼46 mg of His-tagged ubiquitin per mL. However, the binding capacity decreases with the protein molecular weight. Due to the high affinity of NTA for metal ions, the modified membranes show modest leaching of Ni(2+) in binding and rinsing buffers. Adsorption of NTA-containing polymers is a simple method to create metal- and protein-binding films and may, with future enhancement of stability, facilitate development of disposable membranes that rapidly purify tagged proteins.

Immobilization of carboxymethylated polyethylenimine-metal-ion complexes in porous membranes to selectively capture his-tagged protein.

Membrane adsorbers rapidly capture tagged proteins because flow through membrane pores efficiently conveys proteins to binding sites. Effective adsorbers, however, require membrane pores coated with thin films that bind multilayers of proteins. This work employs adsorption of polyelectrolytes that chelate metal ions to create functionalized membranes that selectively capture polyhistidine-tagged (His-tagged) proteins with binding capacities equal to those of high-binding commercial beads. Adsorption of functional polyelectrolytes is simpler than previous membrane-modification strategies such as growth of polymer brushes or derivatization of adsorbed layers with chelating moieties. Sequential adsorption of protonated poly(allylamine) (PAH) and carboxymethylated branched polyethylenimine (CMPEI) leads to membranes that bind Ni(2+) and capture ∼60 mg of His-tagged ubiquitin per mL of membrane. Moreover, these membranes enable isolation of His-tagged protein from cell lysates in <15 min. The backbone amine groups in CMPEI likely increase swelling in water to double protein binding compared to films composed of PAH and the chelating polymer poly[(N,N-dicarboxymethyl)allylamine] (PDCMAA), which has a hydrocarbon backbone. Metal leaching from PAH/CMPEI- and PAH/PDCMAA-modified membranes is similar to that from GE Hitrap FF columns. Eluates with 0.5 M imidazole contain <10 ppm of Ni(2+).

Layer-by-layer assembly of thick, Cu(2+)-chelating films.

Layer-by-layer adsorption of protonated poly(allylamine) (PAH) and deprotonated poly(N,N-dicarboxymethylallylamine) (PDCMAA) yields thick films with a high density of iminodiacetic acid (IDA) ligands that bind metal ions. When film deposition occurs at pH 3.0, PAH/PDCMAA bilayer thicknesses reach 200 nm, and Cu(2+) binding capacities are ~2.5 mmol per cm(3) of film. (PAH/PDCMAA)10 films deposited at pH 3.0 are 4-8-fold thicker than films formed at pH 5.0, 7.0, or 9.0, presumably because of the low charge density on PDCMAA chains at pH 3.0. However, with normalization to film thickness, all films bind similar amounts of Cu(2+) from pH 4.1 solutions of CuSO4. In micrometer-thick films, equilibration of binding sites with Cu(2+) requires ~4 h due to a low Cu(2+) diffusion coefficient (~2.6 × 10(-12) cm(2)/s). Sorption isotherms determined at several temperatures show that Cu(2+) binding is endothermic with a positive entropy (binding constants increase with increasing temperature), presumably because metal-ion complexation involves displacement of both a proton from IDA and water molecules from Cu(2+). (PAH/PDCMAA)10 films retain their binding capacity over four absorption/elution cycles and may prove useful in metal-ion scavenging, catalysis, and protein binding.

Increased protein sorption in poly(acrylic acid)-containing films through incorporation of comb-like polymers and film adsorption at low pH and high ionic strength.

In principle, incorporation of comb-like block copolymers in multilayer polyelectrolyte films can both increase film thickness relative to coatings containing linear polymers and provide more swollen films for increased sorption of proteins. In the absence of added salt, alternating adsorption of 5 bilayers of protonated poly(allylamine) (PAH) and comb-like poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-graft-poly(acrylic acid) (PHEMA-g-PAA) leads to ∼2-fold thicker coatings than adsorption of PAH and linear PAA, and the difference in the thicknesses of the two coatings increases with the number of bilayers. Moreover, the (PAH/PHEMA-g-PAA)n films sorb 2- to 4-fold more protein than corresponding films prepared with linear PAA, and coatings deposited at pH 3.0 sorb more protein than coatings adsorbed at pH 5.0, 7.0, or 9.0. In fact changes in deposition pH and addition of 0.5 M NaCl to polyelectrolyte adsorption solutions alter protein sorption more dramatically than variations in the constituent polymer architecture. When deposited from 0.5 M NaCl at pH 3.0, both (PAH/PHEMA-g-PAA)5 and (PAH/PAA)5 films increase in thickness more than 400% upon adsorption of lysozyme. These films contain a high concentration of free -COOH groups, and subsequent deprotonation of these groups at neutral pH likely contributes to increased protein binding. Lysozyme sorption stabilizes these films, as without lysozyme films deposited at pH 3.0 from 0.5 M NaCl desorb at neutral pH. Films deposited at pH 9.0 from 0.5 M NaCl are more stable and also bind large amounts of lysozyme. The high binding capacities of these films make them attractive for potential applications in protein isolation or immobilization of enzymes.

Separation of alpha- from beta-arylalanines by nickel nitrilotriacetate chromatography.

A method is described to separate alpha- from beta-arylalanines by ligand exchange chromatography on a nickel nitrilotriacetate agarose column with UV monitoring of the effluent. Separate mixtures containing an alpha- and beta-arylalanine pair (1 mg of each) were individually loaded onto the nickel resin pre-equilibrated with the mobile phase at room temperature, and the amino acids were eluted from the column with a gradient from pH 12.0-8.0. The beta-arylalanines eluted first, followed by the alpha-isomers. The four alpha/beta-amino acid pairs tested were well separated with baseline resolution. An aliquot of each fraction was chemically treated to derivatize the amino acids to their N-acyl methyl ester analogs, and their identities were confirmed by GC/MS analysis. The sample recovery was quantitative (>98%), and the column matrix was very resilient, as demonstrated by consistent separation of the solutes after approximately 100 preparative cycles.