Development of double chain phosphatidylcholine functionalized polymeric monoliths for immobilized artificial membrane chromatography

- A novel double chain PC functionalized immobilized artificial membrane (IAM) monolithic column was prepared.
- The synthetic strategy is ultra-short and facile comparing to previous preparation methods.
- The monolith exhibited great potential as a useful alternative of commercial IAM columns for in vitro predication of drug-membrane interactions.
- This monolith exhibited good selectivity for both protein and small molecular pharmaceutical compounds.

This study described a simple synthetic methodology for preparing biomembrane mimicking monolithic column. The suggested approach not only simplifies the preparation procedure but also improves the stability of double chain phosphatidylcholine (PC) functionalized monolithic column. The physicochemical properties of the optimized monolithic column were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and nano-LC. Satisfactory column permeability, efficiency, stability and reproducibility were obtained on this double chain PC functionalized monolithic column. It is worth noting that the resulting polymeric monolith exhibits great potential as a useful alternative of commercial immobilized artificial membrane (IAM) columns for in vitro predication of drug-membrane interactions. Furthermore, the comparative study of both double chain and single chain PC functionalized monoliths indicates that the presence or absence of glycerol backbone and the number of acyl chains are not decisive for the predictive ability of IAM monoliths on drug-membrane interactions. This novel PC functionalized monolithic column also exhibited good selectivity for a protein mixture and a set of pharmaceutical compounds.