Bilirubin adsorption on amine/methyl bifunctionalized SBA-15 with platelet morphology

To remove bilirubin from human plasma, amine/methyl bifunctionalized SBA-15 materials were directly synthesized from the co-condensation of 3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane and tetraethoxysilane with an amphiphilic block copolymer P123 as template. XRD, N2 sorption analysis, FTIR and 29Si MAS NMR were used to identify their well-ordered mesostructure and the grafting of amine and methyl groups on the surface of as-synthesized materials. Both SEM and TEM indicated that the bifunctionalized SBA-15 possessed platelet morphology. This might be attributed to the charge repulsion brought by protonated amine groups and the diminution of hydroxyl groups on the end of silicate-micelles, which passivated the end-to-end anchoring of silicate-micelles along the longitudinal axis. Such a material was investigated as the adsorbent for selective bilirubin removal from human plasma, which showed a high bilirubin clearance of 51.4% within 1.5 h with a little amount of albumin adsorption. The results of hemolysis assay suggested that the bifunctionalized SBA-15 caused serious hemolysis of red blood cells. However, in practical application, plasma separation technique could avoid direct contact between the adsorbent and red blood cells. The further hemeolysis assay proved that the plasma after contacting with the bifunctionalized SBA-15 could not lead to the hemolysis of red blood cells. Thus, the bifunctionalized SBA-15 is expected to be a potential candidate as a clinical hemoperfusion material.

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► Well-ordered bifunctional SBA-15 with platelet morphology was synthesized.
► The synthesized material showed high bilirubin clearance.
► The synthesized material exhibited high bilirubin adsorption selectivity.
► The synthesized material exhibited negligible hemolytic activity.