Fast preparation of polystyrene-based monolith using microwave irradiation for micro-column separation

Cryogels and Monoliths: Promising Tools for Chromatographic Purification of Nucleic Acids

The increasing demand for highly pure biopharmaceuticals has put significant pressure on the biotechnological industry to innovate in production and purification processes. Nucleic acid purification, crucial for gene therapy and vaccine production, presents challenges due to the unique physical and chemical properties of these molecules. Meeting regulatory standards necessitates large quantities of biotherapeutic agents of high purity. While conventional chromatography offers versatility and efficiency, it suffers from drawbacks like low flow rates and binding capacity, as well as high mass transfer resistance. Recent advancements in continuous beds, including monoliths and cryogel-based systems, have emerged as promising solutions to overcome these limitations. This review explores and evaluates the latest progress in chromatography utilizing monolithic and cryogenic supports for nucleic acid purification.

Fabrication of Elastic Macroporous Polymers with Enhanced Oil Absorbability and Antiwaxing Performance

Porous polymers are of great interest in potential energy storage and environmental remediation applications. However, traditional fabrication methods are either time-consuming or energy-consuming and deteriorate the mechanical strength of polymer materials. In this study, polymerization-induced phase separation was used to realize the template-free fabrication of superflexible macroporous polymers. Since the solvent is also used as a porogen, this method can be widely used to synthesize several porous polymers by carefully choosing the solvent and monomer. Compared to nonstructured polymers, the prepared macroporous polymers exhibited enhanced mechanical strength, superflexibility, multicompressibility, and bending properties. Along with hydrophobicity/oleophilicity and macroporous structures, the as-prepared porous polymers demonstrated controllable oil absorbability and release; furthermore, after infusing with lubrication liquid, these materials can be used as antiwaxing materials. The elastic porous polymers prepared using this simple and universal method show great potential for various applications, including controlled drug release, antiwaxing, and lubrication.

Monolith columns for liquid chromatographic separations of intact proteins: A review of recent advances and applications

In this article we survey 256 references (with an emphasis on the papers published in the past decade) on monolithic columns for intact protein separation. Protein enrichment and purification are included in the broadly defined separation. After a brief introduction, we describe the types of monolithic columns and modes of chromatographic separations employed for protein separations. While the majority of the work is still in the research and development phase, papers have been published toward utilizing monolithic columns for practical applications. We survey these papers as well in this review. Characteristics of selected methods along with their pros and cons will also be discussed.