Novel adsorbent for DNA adsorption: Fe 3+-attached sporopollenin particles embedded composite cryogels

The aim of this study is to prepare supermacroporous cryogels embedded with Fe3+-attached sporopollenin particles (Fe3+-ASPs) having large surface area for high DNA adsorption capacity. Supermacroporous poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA)-based monolithic cryogel column embedded with Fe3+-ASPs was prepared by radical cryo-copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with N, N'-methylenebis-acrylamide (MBAAm) as cross-linker directly in a plastic syringe for DNA adsorption studies. Firstly, Fe3+ ions were attached to the sporopollenin particles (SPs), then the supermacroporous PHEMA cryogel with embedded Fe3+-ASPs was produced by free radical polymerization using N, N, N', N'-Tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) and ammonium persulfate (APS) as initiator/activator pair in an ice bath. Optimum conditions of adsorption experiments were performed at pH 6.0 (0.02 M Tris buff er containing 0.2 M NaCl), with flow rate of 0.5 mL/min, and at 5 degrees C. The maximum amount of DNA adsorption from aqueous solution was very high (109 mg/g SPs) with initial concentration of 3 mg/mL. It was observed that DNA could be repeatedly adsorbed and desorbed with this composite cryogel without signifi cant loss of adsorption capacity. As a result, higher amounts of DNA adsorbed these composite cryogels are expected to be good candidate for achieving higher removal of anti-DNA antibodies from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients plasma.