Recent developments in the use of group-specific ligands for affinity bioseparations

One of the major obstacles encountered in the commercialization of biochemical products is their separation and purification since it can represent up to 60% of the total production costsl. Using conventional methods such as filtration, centrifugation, extraction, precipitation, and chromatography usually requires many separation steps in order to isolate biomolecules with similar physicochemical properties. Conventional techniques suffer from a lack of selectivity for a specific biomolecule in a complex mixture, especially when the biomolecules in the mixture have similar properties. A dramatic increase in selectivity is obtained when the method of recovery is based on affinity interactions between the desired macromolecule and its complementary ligand. © 1997 by Marcel Dekker, Inc.