Preparation of a biomimetic polyphosphorylcholine monolithic column for immobilized artificial membrane chromatography

• Novel polyphosphorylcholine (PC) functionalized monoliths were prepared.
• PC functionalized monoliths exhibit satisfactory physicochemical properties.
• The monolith shows potential for studying the drug-membrane interaction.
• The poly(DMPC-co-EDMA) monolith was applied to the separation of intact proteins.

The present work aims to prepare a novel phosphatidylcholine functionalized monolithic stationary phase by in situ co-polymerization of 12-methacryloyl dodecylphosphocholine (MDPC) and ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA) for immobilized artificial membrane chromatography. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, pore size distribution analysis, ζ-potential analysis and micro-HPLC were used to evaluate the monolithic structure and physicochemical properties. Satisfactory morphology, high mechanical stability, good permeability and chromatographic performance were obtained on the optimized monolithic columns. A typical reverse-phase retention mechanism was observed over a wide range of organic solvent content (acetonitrile< 80%). The optimized poly(MDPC-co-EDMA) monolith exhibited good selectivity for proteins and basic drugs. Good correlation was observed between the retention on commercial IAM column (IAM.PC.DD2) and poly(MDPC-co-EDMA) monolith. This novel poly(MDPC-co-EDMA) monolith exhibited good potential for studying the drug-membrane interaction.