High resolution of DL-tryptophan at high flow rates using a bovine serum albumin-multilayered porous hollow fiber membrane

We describe a bovine serum albumin (BSA)-multilayer-adsorbed porous hollow-fiber membrane as a stationary phase that enables chiral separations at a high resolution and high rate. Epoxy-group-containing graft chains were uniformly immobilized on the surface of pores throughout a porous hollow-fiber membrane by radiation-induced graft polymerization. Subsequently, a diethylamino group as an anion-exchange moiety was introduced to the graft chains, which caused the chains to expand toward the interior of the pores due to mutual electrostatic repulsion. The expanding polymer chains provided multilayer binding sites for BSA as a chiral selector. BSA with a degree of multilayer binding of 4 specifically recognized L-tryptophan with a separation factor of 6.6 during permeation by a mobile phase. (Tris-HCl buffer) injected with a racemic solution of DL-tryptophan: through the BSA-multilayered porous membrane, In addition, the separation factor was constant irrespective of flow rates of the mobile phase because of negligible diffusional mass-transfer resistance of tryptophan to BSA multilayered by the graft chains.