Preparation and characterization of metal‐chelated poly(HEMA‐MAH) monolithic cryogels and their use for DNA adsorption

DNA adsorption properties of Zn 2+ ‐chelated supermacroporous poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate‐ N ‐methacryloyl‐(L)‐histidine methyl ester) [poly(HEMA‐MAH)] monolithic cryogel column were investigated for the application of DNA‐affinity adsorbents. The monolithic cryogel was loaded with Zn 2+ ions to form the metal‐chelated affinity sorbent. Poly(HEMA‐MAH) cryogel was characterized by swelling tests, FTIR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and elemental analysis. SEM analysis indicates that the cryogel have a heteroporous structure with interconnected pores of 10–50 μm size, which ascribed to the porogens effect of frozen water crystals. Poly(HEMA‐MAH) cryogel containing 45.8 μmol MAH was used in the adsorption/desorption of DNA from aqueous solutions. The maximum amount of DNA adsorption was 32.93 mg/g in Tris buffer at pH 7.0. It was observed that DNA could be repeatedly adsorbed and desorbed with the poly(HEMA‐MAH) cryogel without significant loss of adsorption capacity. As a result, these higher amounts of DNA adsorbed poly (HEMA‐MAH) cryogels are expected to be good candidate for achieving higher removal of anti‐DNA antibodies from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients plasma. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010