Fabrication and characterization of aligned macroporous monolith for high-performance protein chromatography

• An aligned macroporous monolith was prepared by an improved freeze casting method.
• The reactive colloids served as the key core for the synthesis of monolith.
• The monolith was featured by both aligned macropores and diffusion pores.
• The aligned macropores brings high permeability and satisfied column efficiency.
• The diffusion pores brings large adsorption capacity for protein.

In the present study, a freeze casting method combined with particle accumulation was applied to fabricate the aligned macroporous monolith for high-performance protein chromatography. For the preparation, the reactive colloids were first prepared by using glycidyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as monomers. Subsequently, these colloids accumulated regularly and polymerized into the aligned macroporous monolith. The aligned porous structure of the monolith was characterized by SEM, mercury intrusion, and flow hydrodynamics. The results revealed that the generated monolith was possessed of aligned macropores in size of about 10 μm and high column permeability. Finally, after being modified with sulfonated groups, the monolith was evaluated for its chromatographic performance. It demonstrated that the aligned macropores endowed the monolith with excellent adsorption capacity and high column efficiency.