Cyanocarbons as ligands for electron donor acceptor chromatography of human serum proteins.

The adsorption of human serum proteins to mono-, di- and tri-cyanocarbon ligands was studied in the presence of the water-structuring salt Na2SO4. All of the ligands adsorbed proteins to varying degrees when coupled to agarose via a divinylsulfone-derived spacer arm (DVS), whereas an insignificant or very low protein adsorption capacity occurred when the ligands were coupled through the bisoxirane-derived spacer arm. Studies of the DVS-coupled cyanocarbons showed that adsorption capacity increases with the number of cyano substituents carried by the ligand. The selectivity toward human serum proteins appeared to be similar to that of other electron acceptor ligands, but different from that of hydrophobic ligands. Tricyanoaminopropene-DVS-agarose was found to be the most potent protein adsorbent.